I Wonder Why I Love the Smell of ...

… strange things. Things you probably shouldn’t enjoy smelling. Like gasoline, cheese, and smoke. I’ve always been this way; I can remember very clearly the time when a friend of mine at my first job found out about it. He teased me mercilessly b/c for some reason, he thought it would be funny to stick his work shoe (which was actually a dress shoe) in my face, and I didn’t instantly recoil, squealing like a girly-high-schooler. Instead, I said, “Hmm. It doesn’t stink, in a weird way.” And I took an extra sniff. I mean, it certainly didn’t smell like roses (which I don’t really care for the smell of, by the way), but it smelled kind of … sweet.

I know I’m not alone w/the gasoline thing … lots of people have that dirty little secret. There’s just something about pulling into the gas station with the windows down on a sunny weekend morning that lifts my spirits. Or gets me a little high. I’ve never huffed, but if I were to do so, there are quite a few things I’d like to sit around and smell all day: Sharpies, highlighters, and—ooh, especially—those super-heavy-duty industrial black magic markers with the metal barrel. Those are awesome.

Cheese is easy. The stinkier it is, the better it tastes—it’s a rule. I like putting Asiago on my pasta, I like goat cheese on my salads, and I would be the first person in line at a cheese-tasting class (if I had the money for one). My favorite kind of cheeseburger is one with bacon and bleu cheese.

Why do I like the smell of smoke? It often indicates that something bad is going down somewhere nearby, and living in western MT this summer has been a study in red-flag warnings. At times the smoke has been so oppressive that friends of mine who are new to the area have had trouble leaving the house. But somehow, I always think of campfires and therefore camping and am content.

Don’t get me wrong … there are lots of things that smell good that I enjoy (expensive men’s cologne, my laundry detergent, baking bread/cookies) … but sometimes, it’s the weird things I really want to wrap my nose around. How about you?