The Sweet Smell of Jasmine

I work on the outskirts of the industrial section of Shreveport, and occasionally I have the opportunity to do errands during the day.  I am especially fond of driving down a road that has hundreds of jasmine bushes which are in bloom right now.

The scent of jasmine is like no other.  I remember my first encounter with this fragrant bloom.  I was all of six or seven, and I had gotten a jasmine scented solid perfume.  I could not stop sniffing it.  It was a heavenly, decadent scent. As a child, I could only imagine such an exotic place where this scent grew naturally.

Unfortunately, I have had bronchitis and a sinus infection this past week, which has interfered greatly in my jasmine-smelling activities.  Occasionally, the scent has been overpowering enough to break through my clogged sinuses and I have been rewarded with two or three sniffs of the heavenly scent. 

The powerful scent of jasmine reminds me of Concord, home and springtime. Growing up in Northfield, we had a lilac bush in our side yard, planted soon after we bought the house.  I remember the huge, fragrant blossoms, heavy with flowers and scent. I would cut them and bring them into the house, to perfume our indoor air, much to the consternation of my younger sister, Barb, who was allergic to most things that bloom.  Those blossoms not cut, my mother would devise ways of stringing them up, so that the fragile branch holding the blossoms would not fall over, they were that huge.

So, for now, I drive these roads in Louisiana, sniffing the fragrant air, remembering my home in New Hampshire and wishing I was home.