Something to do with nothing much

This thought is inspired by Trixie's post today...

The most distinctive and surprising smell memory I've ever had came to me in a hot car. My grandparents had both died within a year of each other (they were really old), and I inherited their car. The Dynasty. On a hot summer day, about three or four years after they died I came out of work and got into the swelter of the Dynasty. The heat had brought out the very precise smell of my grandparents. I didn't even have to struggle to put my finger on what it was; it was so immediately obvious.

It was the smell of their house, their bedroom, their hugs. Because I'd spent so much time with them growing up (the best treat ever was getting to sleep over at their place on a Saturday night - we did it weekly for years and years) that not just the memory of them, but of all the childhood adventures associated with staying at their place - nearby where we lived in Huntsville.

Despite the suffocating heat, I sat for a few moments in the car and revelled in the thoughts (actually, it was more vague than an actual thought - more like a feeling) that the smell made so darn clear.

Interestly, Gramma and Grampa had the best barbie collection ever: old fashioned ones that had been my aunt's that had crazy 60's outfits. We never got to take them home - only play with them at their house. My grandparents would ooh and aah at the hairdo's my sister and I created for them. (The french braid was a spectacular achievement.) And I do believe that my grandparents were the source of the strange "patent leather" barbie carrying case with the perpetually broken clasp.