There are certain songs that remind you of an event, of a moment in time, of a person, and every time you hear it, it instantly brings you back to that moment. In the same sense, there are certain smells that bring you right back to that one summer that you spent under the trees with people you will never forget.
These are caused by a part of our brains called the amygdala. I remember seeing a movie with Ashley Judd and Hugh Jackman for the same reason- because Ashley Judd's character wanted to surgically remove her amygdala because she got sad & cried every time she smelled fresh laundry, since it reminded her of her cheating ex-boyfriend. Isn't it amazing how powerful the brain is?!
I mean come to think about it, no matter how long it has been, and even if you haven't smelled or heard that one "thing," as soon as it is present, your brain is triggered and all of a sudden, you're back to that time with that sound and that smell guiding you there, like bread crumbs in Hansel & Gretel [spell check?]
It's amazing how memory works, can you imagine how different life would be without it?
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