………..”A LOOK BACK”…………Is there a fragrance or scent….that the minute you smell it brings you back to your childhood?………For some it could be a perfume their mother or grandmother wore…….or the smell of a room……maybe a toy like playdough or an electric train…..a balsam Christmas tree….For me….it is……………HONEYSUCKLE……………When I was very young there was a very large natural sand pit where we lived. At the far end of the pit was a large natural, very deep spring fed lake……..It was totally fenced off, and was off limits….and forbidden for us to play there…….That being told to children is like catnip…..My two older brothers used to play there all the time, but they told me I couldn’t go…….I told them if they didn’t let me play there with my friends I would tell my mom and dad on them…..so it became my play ground too…..Funny thing is I never saw them there……it was that big and long. There were houses that bordered the pit that had been there well before the 50s housing boom. Behind one of these old houses there was a hole in the metal fence that we used to sneak through. This very old eccentric couple lived there. The woman had tons of cats, and we used to think she was a witch. She was skinny, bent over, and had wild gray hair…..When she saw us she used to chase us off her property, but as soon as she went inside we came right back and through the hole in the fence. We were sort of like Huckleberry Finn….. The pit had very deep and sloping sides, and we used to take large pieces of cardboard, and use them as a sled sliding down the sand. There was also a tire hung from a tree that my brothers used to swing from, but it scared me so I was never tempted to try it…….Growing on the sides of the pit were lots of wild berry bushes that had sweet tart fruit…….We used to eat them all the time….shoving handfuls into our mouths….never thinking that they might not be good for us or poisonous……..They were delicious……..Also growing all over were wild Honeysuckle bushes and vines………I loved the smell……For me it was intoxicating……..The nectar from the Honeysuckle also had a wonderful flavor that was so unique to the plant. It almost tasted the way it smelled only sweeter. We used to pick the flowers off and suck the nectar from the bottoms of them……I just loved everything about Honeysuckle……When I grew up and moved into the big city I left Honeysuckle and it’s remembrance behind………Not far from me is a chain store called Terrain. They have all kinds of interesting things for the garden and home………They also have the best candles and soaps……..While I was perusing and looking around I discovered HONEYSUCKLE SOAPS and HANDCREAM…..They are the closest things I have ever found that smelled like the real thing…….I was immediately brought back to my childhood, and those happy carefree days before the world became a reality. Every time I go to the store I stock up on the soaps………I put them in my linen draws where I store my sheets and pillow cases……….The last thing I smell before I fall to sleep is………HONEYSUCKLE………It brings me right back to my childhood…………and I am happy.
