Smells, scriptures, and Dad

I just want to say how grateful I am for the power of smell. It is such a blessing to have something that can bring childhood memories back so quickly and vividly. It's always AMAZING to think how divinely inspired our bodies are!  It's such an amazing gift and all because the location of the olfactory bulb (which is responsible for decoding smells) is located close to where memories are stored. Or something like that...my anatomy brain has gotten a little weak.

But back to my original intent of this post. I had gotten out some of my yearbooks to look at from high school and when I went back into the storage room to put them away, the box was located next to a box of my dad's things. One of my favorite items was on top. My dad's crazy hat that he always wore when we came to visit Utah. Reminds me of a Russian hat. I love it because it's one of the only things that still smells exactly like my dad. And it's a blessing to have that. The other thing I pulled out of the box was my dad's scriptures. They're ancient. Ok no they did not travel with the Israelites during their sojourn in the wilderness.  But they're old nonetheless- since from at least his mission which was early sixties.  So they're before all the great footnotes at the bottom of the page. He refused to have my mom buy him any updated ones. The footnotes are kind of in a middle column with a column on either side. I'll have to take a picture and post because they're pretty cool. I think I've only ruffled through them maybe once or twice since he died, and it's always cool to see some of the familiar little things he always had stuck in them. Like some valentines from me and Heather. He was so careful when he underlined things and always used a straight edge. He has random clippings tucked into the books and I just had to laugh at what some of them were. So my dad. So so my dad. One of them I was like "what in the world???" But I really just kept sniffing them. Funny as that is, I just had to keep leaning over to sniff the pages. Because they smell like they always have, a very distinctive smell similar to the hat that I don't think I can find anywhere else. It transports me back in time to the countless hours that my dad taught me from those scriptures. They make me tear up every time I handle them. I'm so grateful for my dad! My dad was always the one where he would come across a newspaper clipping or something in the day, and then use that as an opportunity to teach me something. Though sometimes I got tired of it, sometimes my friends got tired of it, (Good memory of Crystal at times being like, wait no! Don't ask your dad about that homework question- he'll explain it to us for another half hour!), now I would give anything to be able to tap into his brain.

So even though I can't have my dad right now, even though I really wish I could, at least I have something that ties me so close to all the wonderful memories. What a scholar of the scriptures he was. He seemed to know everything. And right now they're still in my nightstand drawer. I think I'm going to use them to study for the next few days.

There's the hat!!!!! (Winter Olympics 2002 in Utah). 

Sister's graduation in 2003. Hmm, yes. I was always that good looking. ;) Thank heavens we don't stay looking like awkward 13 year olds forever.