"Give us your Top 10."
This little prompt was the only thing that stood between me and completing my final college application, four and a half years ago. Any list of 10 things I love, how hard could that be? It’s actually quite simple, almost too simple – the simplicity is what stumbled me. How much could they possibly learn from a silly list of 10 things?
I bounced between a few ideas before I ultimately landed on one: My top 10 favorite smells. It sounds random, but if you think about it, a person's favorite smells can tell you a lot about them. Smells, and the other four senses, when detailed right, are the ultimate key to unlocking memories, and memories are what make us who we are. So, as a nostalgic graduating senior, I thought I would think back to that list and tell you about my top 10 favorite smells. I no longer have that exact list, but I want to rewrite it out now, four and a half years later.
#1: My mom’s homemade chocolate chip cookies coming out of the oven
If you know me at all, you know this is an obvious first answer. Not only do I have the world’s biggest sweet tooth, but I also have the world’s best mom, who made sure to have warm, homemade chocolate chip cookies ready for my brother and I at every occasion. Some of my most favorite memories include walking home from school with my brother Sam, opening up the front door and smelling that delicious scent.
#2: Rain on a hot summer day
I am a warm weather person, through and through, and there is nothing I love more than a sunny summer day. I’ve spent many summer days walking to the neighborhood lake for an afternoon swim, only to be caught in an afternoon storm, running home drenched from the rain. I love the smell of rain on a hot summer day, where the green leaves that fill out my entire neighborhood become even more dense and almost seem to trap you in.
#3: Opening a box of crayons
Since age 5, I have always loved the smell of a box of crayons, and looking at all the colors inside. Art was my favorite activity of the school day at Estes Hills Elementary, and a box of crayons reminds me of the bright and busy art classroom.
#4: The air conditioning in our old ‘97 Accord, Wanda the Honda
My brother and I came home from the hospital when we were born in the same car that we learned how to drive 16 years later. Wanda the Honda was there for it all, and the best part about her was her air conditioning unit. For some reason, that smell was my brother and I’s favorite. That smell, more than any other, is the smell of my childhood.
#5: My summer camp shampoo
My first week spent at Camp Kanata was one I will never forget. Camp Kanata is the quintessential summer camp, and its home to some of my most treasured memories shared with my best friends. I spent six summers at camp, and every time I smell Garnier Fructis shampoo, the one in the lime green bottle, I travel back in time to that first summer, showering after a long hot day in the bath-house just outside of Cabin Four.
#6: Bonfires in the fall
My backyard is a magical place in the fall. With trees that tower over you and a creek running through, there is no better place for a bonfire, and my dad is the bonfire expert. You can smell the wood burning from the other side of the cul-de-sac, and that smell reminds me of marshmellows and dark nights bundled up outside with my family, one of my favorite places to be.
#7: Christmas trees
For twenty years, my family has bought our Christmas tree from the same place – the Amity Church on Estes Drive. It’s a small little lot, but it has become a staple for our family. When Sam and I were little, we would run around all the Christmas trees and find tunnels to crawl through, as the trees laid stacked against one another. We would leave covered in sap, and the smell would stick with us all night.
#8: A bright, blooming honeysuckle bush
When your best friend in the whole world lives on Honeysuckle Road, you find yourself eating a lot of honeysuckles growing up. Haley and I spent a ton of time walking the perimeter of the playground and the streets in between our houses, looking for the best yellow flowers to pluck from the bush. The smell of honeysuckles remind me of Haley, and of our childhood homes being just one windy road apart.
#9: The first ocean breeze after a long car ride
I have spent many hours on I-40, driving to and from one of my favorite places on earth, Ocean Isle Beach. There is no better feeling in the world than opening up the car door after a three-hour drive, stretching as you stand up, and getting hit with a warm wave of salty air.
#10: The smell of your dog curled up next to you
I would give anything to snuggle up and smell my old dog one more time. Okay, yes, dogs do not smell the best, and that’s a fact. BUT, when it’s YOUR dog curled up next to you, in the most perfect little circle, that smell is the best in the world, because it’s her. When I come home after a few weeks away, I beeline for our new dog Ginger and bury my head into her. That smell is love in the truest form.
By revisiting this little Top 10 list, I remembered moments I haven’t thought about in years. Details matter. Details make a story worth reading. And details help us remember our own stories. So maybe there was some merit in that random college essay prompt I was given all those years ago after all.
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