Did you smell that?

  As I lean against the washing machine and stare out the window at the pure white snow on the ground outside, I notice an amazing aroma in the air this morning.  I can confirm that although the white cake with blue frosting that my two year old and I baked at 7:00 this morning smells delicious, this is not the smell that is radiating through the house.
   As I try to put a name to this amazing smell, my mind begins to wonder.  It's amazing how a smell can do that...how it can take you to a memory, a place you once were, a moment of joy or possibly a moment of pain and sadness.  Today, this is a good smell.  I am immediately full of excitement and contentment as I struggle to place this familiar yet distant scent. 
   At first my mind wonders to the beach...to a wooden deck overlooking the ocean and in my lap I find a Nicholas Sparks book waiting to be torn open and ready to rip apart my emotional stability.  However, I quickly realize that at least three times a day my mind wonders to this exact place, and I realize that the pleasant aroma is irrelevant to my desire to go to the beach.
   I soon find my thoughts anchored in our back yard.  I can feel my two year old sitting on my lap as we swing forward and back, fighting over who is going to reach the moon first.  Beside me is Lexi, our five year old, certain that her mother and sister have gone mad, arguing not only over who will reach the moon first, but who has the legal rights of ownership to the moon (it's mine by the way, my father gave it to me long before my girls were born).  I can feel the wind blowing in my face, mixed with the extremely thin white hair of Genevieve as she continues to joyfully squeal from my lap as we continue forward and back in the spring breeze.
   Just as quickly as a swing moves forward and back, my mind wonders yet again...this time I find myself in silence.  I am by myself, in a field of green, surrounded by water, sand, and the occasional hum of a golf cart.  The sun is beating on my face as I take a moment to admire my super-cute plaid golf attire.  I set my feet...purposely avoid a practice swing (they just psych me out anyway), and envision myself following through with a perfect swing, watching my pastel pink golf ball soar through the air, landing with a single thud in the middle of the fairway!  This aroma may just signify the perfect summer day on the golf course.
   Again, reality hits and I am back at the washing machine still perplexed by the pleasant and overwhelming aroma that has made my mind drift to three of my absolute favorite places in this world.  What a powerful scent this is and I am thrilled to have had a moment or two to escape the dreaded cold of the winter.  It's time I return  to the chores of the day, so I return the box of drier sheets that have been in my hand to the shelf above, only to notice that they are "Spring Meadow" scented.  I guess that explains it all...I never would have thought that one of my most dreaded household chores would lead to one of the nicest three minute distractions of the day.  I guess I owe a big "Thank You" to Downy.