unscented

The sense of smell, they say, is hard-wired into memory. Certain smells will bring back poignant images of old events. Perfumes will remind you of the girl who wore them. The smell of cinnamon rolls will remind you of Saturday mornings when your mother would still cook. And so on.

The association is never there for me. I can smell just fine. I like some smells, hate others. But I never think of the past. Cinnamon rolls only make me think of cinnamon rolls. My ex-girlfriend's perfume just smells like the flowers it's supposed to smell like. I've heard people say they smelled a girl's hair once who used the same conditioner as a girl they used to love, and the memory was too overpowering for them. I've just made note of it and moved on.

Perhaps I just don't develop those memories. Perhaps I'm so detached from events it just never happens. I couldn't say.