One summer night, I was taking a bike ride with my sister through the cracks and crevices in our neighborhood that we've never really been to before. All of a sudden, this scent hits me - a musty mixture of campfire smoke and pine trees. All of a sudden, I wasn't able to think of anything else but the campfires I have at camp every summer. Pictures were played back in my mind clearer than when I was trying to remember camp without the smelling that scent.
I think it's truly amazing how we have these triggers that set off these memories like fireworks.
I never really truly thought about how every experience we have in life comes with these triggers. Even if we don't notice them fully in the moment, later in life when we come across the triggers they will unexpectedly bring us back to that moment. Its kind of like a deja vu sorta thing. I think it's important that we notice the triggers that take us back to our memories because afterall, they are what makes us, us.
We are our experiences. We are the scent of campfires and the songs we hear on the radio driving at dusk and the words we said to our best friend on top of that hill. We are the people we order pizza with at 2am and the rainy days we spend all day in bed in and the sunny days we enjoy outside. We are the bike rides we get lost on and the conversations on the dock with ice cream and old friends.
When I think about who I am, I remember these things. I capture the present. And I look forward to the moments I'm a part of right now becoming triggers in the future.
