Recently we took a ten day vacation that was just pretty awesome. Spent six days on the beach playing, reading, and sleeping, then another few days visiting friends in our old stomping grounds. It was all great fun and so relaxing. But this body of mine is not so adaptive to travel so when day ten came around I was ready to embark on the long drive home. We got a late start and ended up driving late into the wee hours of the morning. I dozed off several times. We were dropping out of the foothills into our valley when the familiar aroma hit me and wow did it smell good.
There's an irony in the "wow". I can only describe the aroma as a combination of cow manure, rotting mint, onions, and farmland dust. I have grown to love that smell and it evokes the sweetest memories. Of course I live in Idaho's treasure valley year round and I don't "smell" it. But when I leave and come back it's like this aroma pleasure every time I do. Who would ever have thought that cow manure, rotting mint, onions, and farmland dust could smell so good? Well it does and here's why: I've found this place I call home. It's not perfect, it just a place where we've put our roots down and we're raising our kids. There's trial and error, just as there are ups and downs, but it's where we are, it's home, and wow does it smell good even if there's a little cow manure thrown in there.
This post inspired by Switchfoot's song "This is Home" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwa8-3GXbuE. Yeah, I borrowed my teenage son's ipod while he was driving. I needed something to distract me!
Ahhhhh. For me it's the smell of Salmon River or the ocean, that makes me feel at home. I don't know if San Jose has a smell...does it?
ReplyDeleteYes it does. It smells like hot pavement. I think that's why I appreciate the smell of the farmland because I'm not in the city anymore.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you...I love the smell of the Treasure Valley
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