They say...

They say that our sense of smell has the power to evoke long lost memories like no other sense can. Yesterday Ezra and I decided to take a walk to the Burlingame library. It's only about a mile and a half away, but I REALLY did not want to walk down busy El Camino...too loud and smelly!! So, instead, we mapped a route through quiet neighborhood streets I had never been down before. We saw charming little houses, exotic plants and enormous palm trees. A soft breeze wafted across our path, and then, suddenly, I felt like I was home. If my life was a movie, there would have been a quick flashback/montage of swinging on the rusty swing set in my parent's backyard, long Sunday afternoons on a blanket in the grass, picking sun-warm tomatoes from the vines in my mother's garden and eating them barefoot on the porch swing.

I had no idea why my brain was going so crazy! I looked down and noticed a tiny yellow flower on the sidewalk...and I knew. I was standing underneath a Russian Olive tree.

Growing up, my parent's backyard was lined with these trees. Their fragrant yellow flowers gave way to shiny, peach pasty "olives". Their sweet perfume filled the air on the night of my first kiss with Talin. Their dusty green leaves dappled the sunshine above my head during the hours I spent reading in the hammock.

The trees at my parents house are long gone, and I haven't seen or smelled a Russian Olive tree in at least eight years...but standing there on that unknown street in Burlingame, I'd never felt more at home.

I guess "they" are right. =)