Ive just been feeling good lately, ya know? Jessica and I put the kids to bed a little early last night and watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was just a really great movie, with an intriguing premise. I realize that the reviews were mixed on it, but we adored it (or maybe Jessica was just adoring Brad Pitt the whole time. . . cursed Pitt and his boyish good looks). Either way, it was one of those movies that provided a platform for me to reflect on my own life - mistakes, accomplishments, and the overwhelming feeling of gratitute and helplessness that I always end up feeling when I seriously think about...well...my life. And this time I ended up thinking about sunscreen and chlorine - the smells of my childhood.
Since we had Avery I now drop off AND pick up Noah from school each day (I was previously the picker-upper only), and every day we have these great conversations about what we see happening on our drive. We talk about the golf course at the Grove Park Inn, and whether or not they have the flags out yet. Noah asks what certain words mean that the NPR announcer says, and stuff like that. But what is so great is that when I pick him up he always smells of sunscreen - as he has certainly been outside on the giant playground for an hour straight playing with his friends Maddie and Lucas. That smell really takes me back to my many summers at Jonestown Pool, or just being at Hilton head Island with my family every year since the early 80s. The smell has always meant freedom, laughing, games, and closeness. But now it just means family.
And chlorine is no different, as it is the smell of the pool - one of my favorite places to be. I grew up at the pool, I worked at a pool in high school. I worked at the UNCG pool in college. And now Noah and I frequent the YMCA pool, and we leave smelling of chlorine. And I confess that there are times that I have taken Noah to the pool just so that I could enjoy the post-swimming feeling of wrapping our towels around us and smelling that freedom and laughter that is my association.
Avery is going to smell like that too, and I look forward to it. It has been a different experience for me, having a second child, because I KNOW how amazing this whole thing is going to be. I look at Avery and I am already smelling the pool and the sunscreen. But right now, I am enamored by his little smiles and involuntary movements. He is really starting to hold his head up too, and even sat in his bumbo seat yesterday!
And on that note, I just spotted a poptart in the kitchen, I have to make a play.
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