Memory Binding Smell

 

March: The month of my birth.  A time where I often contemplate my origin.  Who am I and where do I come from?  What has made me into who I am? Times, places, and many people have made me who I am.  This month is a time to look back, reminisce and explore those times, places and people.  

 Funny how a smell can take you back through time and to a different place. 

    I smell the grease as I pack the bearings of the front wheel of my 1961 Schwinn, but I am no longer in the bike shop now, but back in rural Wisconsin and in the spacious metal shed where my grandpa keeps all his tractors.  I am no longer forty-five, but am now five years old again.  Tools are scattered on the wooden workbench, and hung on the wall behind it.  Some earthly smell mixed with grease mists the large space radiating from inside the long silver grease gun, engines and engine parts dispersed around the packed dirt floor.  Without that grease, those tractors would no longer move and the operations of the farm would be cease.

    Life when I was younger and in that special place was more simple and the memories of grandpa fixing things and taking me on early morning rides as he chopped the green dew moistened grass for the cows are just as rich and thick as that grease.

    I miss my favorite farmer and I miss those simpler times.  I love the time traveling scent as I now work with my own hands.  Hands that now are dirty and slick, just like his thick hard-working calloused hands would be as he worked. We are forever family and memories keep those close to us alive. 

45 Trips around the sun: a tribute in 45 Nuggets of Learned Treasures.

 

March is "Who am I and Where Have I come From" month. I am a combination of millions of experiences, senses and genes.  I am my father's daughter, my grandfather's granddaughter.  My family is me and I am my family.  I am on this planet for a purpose; there are no mistakes.

Well, 45 feels the same as 44.  Rarely does a birthday come and go with much significance.  But there can be found beauty in that.  Normal isn't all that bad.  In fact, in a world that is often catapulted into chaos, we need things to keep us going and a sense of normalcy is often warranted. 

Here I offer a simple list of things that make my life easier in those times of chaos and ground me back into my normal, well, at least I can see glimpses of normalcy.  

So, as an ode to my 45 trips around the sun, here is a list of 45 things I have learned(in no particular order after the #1 most important):

1.  First, find deity.  Pray, it makes life easier.

2.  People are good...when you decide that they are.

3. My kids are growing up too fast. Take time to enjoy the beauty that is childhood.

4.  I am growing up too fast.  Take time to enjoy the moments.

5. Enjoy your parents.  They too grow up much too fast.

6. Take days off from work.  You deserve it.

7. Take a soon to buy car into the mechanic BEFORE purchasing.

8. Never have a car payment.

9. Start saving for retirement in your 20s.

10. It's okay to have vices.

11. Perfection isn't real...even for the people who you think are perfect.

12. It's okay to not be okay.

13. Your parents become cooler as they age. 

14. Parenthood is the scariest hood you'll ever go through.

15. If you go to Russia, don't worry about money! Do all the things.

16. Happiness is a choice you make daily.

17. Eat the donut...just not everyday all day.

18. Taking care of your mental health needs to be a bigger priority.

19. You feel better when you quit worrying about what other people think.

20. Marriage/love isn't always rainbows and butterflies.

21. Visit home often.

22. Politics are stupid, as well as most politicians.

23. Say yes more often.

24. Everybody loves getting a letter in the mail.

25. Reading is fun...you must first find the right books for you...see #19.

26. The book is always better than the movie.

27. You really shouldn't cry or yell over spilled milk(or spilled anything!).

28. Saying sorry is the best tool in relationships. Say sorry, you are wrong a lot.

29. Call your mom...grandma...grandpa...aunt...sister...brother...etc. even if one of you doesn't have anything to say or remember what is said!

30. Exercise is therapy.

31. Walks count as exercise.

32. Friends can be the family we choose.

33. Write more...your kids will thank you.  Tell your story.

34. Good times ALWAYS follow hard times.

35. Smile at strangers.  They either will think you are crazy...or they will smile back...or both.

36. Don't be too serious,  Silly is also therapy.

37. Music. Play it. Listen to it. Sing it loudly, even if off key.

38.  Calls are often better than texts, like MOST OFTEN.

39. Buy the tickets.  Plan the trip.

40. Always find things to look forward to.

41. Growing a garden is rewarding.

42. Hammocks are the furniture of nature.

43. You feel better when you eat less sugar.

44. A bike ride is also therapy. And the right number of bikes to have is the number you currently have plus one.

45.  Never say no to a catch with your kids.