#nostalg

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So many cats have inhabited our house since the last time I posted the first post and with that comes a few problems here and there but nothing that can't be fixed and moved on from. Tonight was no exception for the worms that sit in my brain, watching the world through the lenses we call eyes, sitting on its reclining chair with a cold worm-beer on its smooth left hand. A remote lay nestled on the other. Typical worm, enjoying front seat in this life-long series called Living.

Prescriptions from the veterinary clinic told me to get some antibiotics and that's what I did. I chose the pharmacy that stood next to another pop-up style building selling slow-roasting meats and fried chicken. This particular pharmacy sold OTC and prescription drugs that were cheaper than big pharmacy stores. Such a pairing sounds ironic, a pairing that seems chronological, telling if you will, but that's just myself giving meaning about something that simply happened to be together because the spots were strategic.

Like meeting people because you happened to be in the same place at the same time, or making a poem and accidentally having your crush read it.

Sometimes things just exist in the same space unintentionally but necessarily.

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I stepped inside the pharmacy, a first-time thing for both of us because I have always bought medication from big pharmacies that not only sold medications but also make-up, snacks, self-care products, drinks, and even frozen food. Immediately, I was greeted with two things: the smell of a mixture of stacked old paper, and storage. If you have ever been inside a huge warehouse where stacks upon stacks of papers in folders were kept, you would be sorely familiar with the smell of a forest of papers sitting atop metal racks. There are only a few places where one might find themselves in such a dizzying forest, and a pharmacy backroom is probably one of them. I was not, however, inside a pharmacy backroom, rather I was in front of the counter, waiting for my turn as another customer came looking for medications meant for personal use.

With a partially blocked nose from allergies that kept coming back, eyes scanning the racks holding boxes upon boxes of medications and taking in the snacks they also offered right on the counter itself, I was taken back. The smell and its musty familiarity took me back to a time I remembered well because of how much time I spent there, to the forest of the dead, quite literally and figuratively, and I felt calm. Excited even, because the smell reminded me of carefree days and makeshift sleeping places when I was not home. We weren't homeless, far from it actually, but when you're a kid with adventurous parents, sceneries can change at times.

That is why I thought of nosetalgia. it's not a real word and there's one out there to describe how smells can make us associate a specific scent to a memory deep in our brains, but I prefer nosetalgia. Describing it for what it is feels appropriate and a wonderful way to honor the unique feeling of mentally and emotionally living in a memory with the associated scent as your running fuel. Once the smell is gone, the memory then also slowly transitions from a vivid recollection to a subtle taste left in our tongues after eating four bricks of a milk chocolate bar. it's such a unique feeling that sometimes, it's the only way I can live for as long as I have. To smell the smells that we associate with something positive is truly...a nosetalgic affair.