Reliving Chicago Through My Nose

Does anybody else find that their nose is a pathway to the past? That certain smells just flood you with memories? My nose is very sensitive and just as music, a smell can transport me any place at any time. This morning, as I was getting ready for work, I sprayed myself with one of my 32 different perfumes and I was instantly brought back to my tiny little apartment on LaSalle St. in downtown Chicago. It was where I first discovered Ralph Lauren Romance, as I was browsing the fragrance section of the Marshal Field’s store, and to smell it to this day still brings me back to that first year and a half.

I remembered the way my apartment smelled just after I would spray it and how it would still remain in the air long after I returned home from work. I was reminded of 6:00am bedtimes and walks home with Monkey at 3:00 in the morning. It reminded me of a duck shower curtain, and a bathroom so small I had to leave the door open to comb my hair. I remembered a futon for a couch and an open window that filled my tiny apartment with the sounds of sirens and taxi horns and a distant subway train in the background. I heard my very last land line phone ringing with sales calls and the noise my wrought iron bed would make as I first crawled into heaven.

I saw my tiny vintage mid-rise apartment and the doorman whose name I’ll never forget. I saw my rooftop observation deck and the way Lake Michigan looked from 14 stories in the air. I saw hardwood floors, and stark white walls, and a 3 month long roommate sleeping in the living room. I saw a year’s worth of heartache, a new best friend being made, and four walls that we’d laugh at and say “If only they could talk”.

Awww, I miss that city. Thank you Ralph Lauren!