What is it about the power of scents which can affect you in so many different ways?
Lathering up in the shower today I was easily transported to when I was about twelve years old. I remember using the same body wash, savoring the citrusy clean scent, and making a mental note to remind my mother to purchase more the next time we went on our weekly shopping trip to Superstore.
I loved that weekly ritual. Being a bored kid with nothing much to do, it was exciting to be able to get out of the house--even if it was just to accompany mom on a gigantic grocery shopping trip. There were about six of us in the family then and, with bottomless pits for stomachs, our shopping cart (steered by my brother) would almost always be overflowing with green leafy vegetables, super huge packs of meat (sometimes the packages would become crushed, the delicate saran wrap stretched tautly, the blood trickling out from underneath), oversized cans of Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce, crinkling packages of vermicelli or rice paper, and an abundance of fruit as offerings for the altar. For as long as I can remember, ice cream, or chips, or any sort of junk food was off limits. There was no arguing--when mom said no, she meant no. But there would be an occasional time when we were allowed to put those precious items into the cart and later, the ban against it was lifted, and certain junk food items became a regular part of our grocery list.
There was nothing I loved more than to be able to browse the cosmetics/personal grooming/toiletries aisle. For this section, mom was particularly generous. Mention that a certain kind of shampoo would yield softer hair, or that a certain soap was nourishing for your skin, and mom was certain to tell you to put it in the cart. This is how the body wash came into my life and boy, am I ever glad it did.
Just like that.
A simple lathering up in the shower and I am twelve again.
Looking back on that time in my life, I can see how it has shaped me. Shopping with mom was often an ordeal, and it is because of her that I have developed a no-holds barred attitude when it comes to buying junk food. I'll admit it: I have a weakness for fried potatoes and creamy smooth chocolate. So when I first moved out on my own at least six years ago, I decided that if I wanted to have chips for breakfast, followed by a large helping of chocolate ice cream, then I bloody well could! There were no limitations; it was just me and the big ol' shopping cart-- oh, and my tattered wallet, containing the wages of a sales clerk at the mall. Let's not forget about that.
I loved perusing cosmetics and beauty products back then, and now, surprise, surprise! I still do. Nothing pleases me more than to walk down the aisle with all those different compacts, colors, and lotions waiting for me to discover. Shampoos with extracts of chamomile, glycerin soaps smelling authentically of green apple. The scents, the texture of a pressed powder, all the possible different shades of blue eyeshadow beckon me with intoxicating power. And don't even get me started on lipgloss...
And if I had so much pleasure doing that back home, imagine what it's like for me in Japan.
On a budget which far exceeds the confines of a minimum-wage retail sales clerk position at the mall and with new products and foods to discover.
Frightening, isn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment