I have a time machine. It allows me to travel back to various moments in my life and relive the good and the bad. The only problem with my time machine is that I don’t have control over when it works or where/when it takes me. The time machine is a bit complicated in how it operates, too. It can be triggered by a variety of things. Are you tired of my vague wordiness, yet? (I am!)
The time machine I’m talking about is made up of my five senses. For those of you who need a refresher (I just had to quickly recite them to myself!), the five senses are sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch. I just took a trip in my time machine when I decided (for the second time in three days) that I wanted some cheese toast.
Cheese toast is not the same as grilled cheese. Cheese toast is made by putting a slice of cheese on a piece of bread (no butter/margarine involved) and putting that bread in the broiler until the cheese is bubbling and a little brown. When I took the toast out of the oven, the smell immediately sent me back to my early elementary school days. I was back in the school’s makeshift lunchroom at breakfast time, sitting at one of those foldaway lunch tables and munching away at cheese toast before school started.
The smell and the taste of cheese toast reminded me of Mrs. Hambrick, my kindergarten teacher, and the song she taught us (“Autumn leaves now are falling…”). It reminded me of my class singing “This is It” (Kenny Loggins, not Michael Jackson) at our kindergarten graduation. It even reminded me of my 3rd grade acting debut as Mrs. Stickney and the outfit I wore – a light peach colored dress with matching jacket…the jacket had a fake fur trim. (I know, you envy me, don’t you?)
My cheese toast is gone, now. But my time machine isn’t. So I’m looking forward to the next wild ride that comes at the whiff of a familiar scent or the sound of a melody that triggers a memory from “somewhere in time.” Until then…
So, tell me about your time travels.