New

At my goddaughter's confirmation, she received a bible from her grandmother who had received it from HER grandmother when she was confirmed. My goddaughter's cousin opened up the bible, leaned in and breathed real deep then said "I love that smell".  I just grinned at her, surprised to find in someone so young the understanding of what "old" smells like.

Old. A smell book lover's and those who live in old houses can relate to: mustiness, a teensy bit of mold odor, fading memories...Probably why I spend more time walking through the stacks at Half-Price books than I do in actually LOOKING at the books. I don't remember when I became a huge fan of old books and houses and people, but I do know that whenever I catch a whiff of the "old" smell whether it is from a book, the cupboard built into my ancient dining room, an antique store or a hug from certain people (yes, they have that SMELL!),  I am somehow comforted.

Old is good.

Got me thinking:  what is the smell of "NEW"?

The smell of a new car, a baby doll on Christmas morning, a new text book, a mimeograph (look it up!), a newly born baby, a load of wood hauled into the house on a cold night or a freshly mown lawn? All "new" smells, but no one definitive smell like "old" to me.

This past Saturday I spent time in one of my favorite little towns, Harmony, with some of the people I love the most. After checking out the arts/crafts event at the high school then traipsing about town in the rain to browse the shops' wares, we stopped at a place that was overwhelming to all of my senses. I was bombarded with scents, colors, cramped aisles, loud tinny music overhead and the oppressive heat. I had to sit down or faint  so I perched on a flight of stairs. Sharing a tread with a bunch of stuffed animals, a couple of pillows and a lone candle. Highly scented of course.

As I leaned on the bannister to stop the world from spinning, I could hear the voices of my loved ones...soothing like white noise and began drifting off. With just a brief thought of "bannister face" I closed my eyes. Then a thought jumped in my head so loudly all sleep escaped: What if "NEW" wasn't a scent? What if "NEW" wasn't even one of the other senses -sight, touch, taste or hearing?

So, I've been testing that theory: "NEW" isn't a particular sense. I check-in with myself as I ride in my new car, hold my new cat, listen to the pounding of a new roof being built, feel the pull of the new winter winds across the parking lot, taste a dish from a recipe in a borrowed cookbook and, on my tongue for the first time this season, a snowflake.

Each sense takes in the "newness" and processes it...and the result?

Well, it all creates the same FEELING inside of me. A feeling of wonderment, of adventure, of having more tomorrows to try "new" things.

Hope for more living in order to one day be the comforting - the "old."

Pretty profound? Well, its just my 2¢.