Today's Thoughts

I was walking down a crowded Manhattan street today, stinking hot, and wondering when and if we will ever see rain again. Suddenly I walked past a woman and smelled her perfume and a flood of memories came back to me.

I remembered my grandparents, and how much I loved visiting them, which was fortunately frequent.

I remembered that bump when they drove the car into the garage after picking me up from the airport.

Remembered the Brisbane heat, in, and outside of the car - the wind-up windows - the smell of the oil paints in Pa’s garage workshop.

The feeling of superiority when he got my bags out of the boot. (I was a seasoned traveler you see – after all, I had just been on a plane hadn’t I)?

I remembered their house - the blue (sorry aqua) shag carpet - the hanging ‘glass’ lights - the flowery couch, the round end table, the spiders on the porch near the front door, which my Nana told me were good luck. (To this day I have never, and will never kill a spider).

The peanut butter and honey in the pantry, and the never-ending supply of mint slice bikkies in the fridge (which she still bought for me long after I had gone off them). The Nutri-Grain cereal which Pa called “Donkey Food”.

The water glasses on the tray.

The way she told me how much she loved the colour of my eyes.

I remembered the glass fish on the front table, the brass animals which were awful, but I sent for Pa’s birthday every year, so they were kept on display - the tiled front hall, the phone table, the Avon Lady, the precious fluffy purple blanket, the study with her magnificent letter opener, her bed - jumping on it in the mornings and messing up her newspapers, wondering why Pa didn’t get to have a big bed like Nana did. Later wondering why they had different rooms!

I remember Nana saving the fluff which I had picked off the purple blanket to rub under my nose when I used to suck my thumb.

Her wonderful big mirror that Pa had attached lights to. Watching her put on make-up and thinking she was the prettiest person I ever saw. The blue earrings.

The laundry with the blue rinse stuff, the flowers for budda, the dog (Louis) with the blind eyes, the pool which was almost always full! The second fridge with the disgusting stuff called tonic water which I had mistaken for lemonade one day. Pa sitting on his chair with the remote control (with a cord) turning down the volume on all the TV ads.

I remember rolling around, playing my heart out on that blue shag pile at seven years of age, and I remember crying my heart out in that same room at my Grandfather’s funeral many years later.

I wonder what perfume that woman was wearing today? Obviously something my Nana once wore. If it were possible to bottle whatever I smelled today, I would.

It is a great thing, to remember good times.

I would call the perfume “An Almost Perfect Childhood”