How Would We Remember Anything Without Our Senses?

 

I have often read that it is our sense of smell that can bring us back in time more strongly than any of our other 4 senses. Even thinking about the way Grandma’s house smelled while she was baking can bring you back to that time in your childhood. If you bake the same thing today in your own home you are transported back to that period.

The first night I spent at Rex’s house I didn’t think I would be able to sleep because of the sound of the train running past and sounding its whistle all night. The train tracks are practically in his front yard. It is a commuter line and runs frequently. Perhaps every hour we heard the loud whistle and the big train rolling down the tracks. I don’t think one night was long enough to get used to the sound, but, in fact, it was so cozy and pleasurable being in his bed that I came to associate the sound of the train whistle with the pleasant sensations. I did sleep well that first night.

On subsequent nights at his house, I continued having the association of that sound with pleasure as it would frequently whistle as it passed late into the night after we made love. The once disturbing “noise” has become a sweet sound that lulls me to sleep and will forever remind me of being in that bed with him. What was initially an annoying sound has become something that makes me feel good. Sometimes I hear the train whistle when Rex and I are on the phone and it gives me that warm feeling of pleasure and yearning to be right there where the train passes.