For some time now I have joked/lamented about my innate ability for smelling bad smells and missing the good smells.
I'll be walking down the street with my husband George and he'll ask, "Did you smell that woman's perfume?" Or he'll ask me if I smelled some flowers as we passed by. The answer is almost always no.
If I stop and stick my nose into a lily, or a rose, or a magnolia blossom I'll smell the sweetness. If I'm near a lilac bush when it is blooming I'll usually notice the scent. But generally I miss those smells.
Now, when I walk in the front door of the house I can tell you if the lid is up on the trash can in the kitchen. I smell stagnant water and garbage trucks and exhaust fumes and gasoline. My favorite button in the car is the one that closes the vent to outside air! It isn't so bad when the car is moving, but if we're sitting in traffic the intake is just pulling in exhaust fumes from the cars in front of us!
I have realized that one of the reasons I smell these odors is because most of them can trigger a migraine for me. So my brain is on alert - to get away from those smells!
And sometimes I save lives.
The other evening we were celebrating my birthday. About 20 friends and family members came to enjoy some great food, wine and conversation. Later in the evening I was sitting in the living room talking to a few people and I noticed an odor. I smelled gas.
I excused myself and walked into the kitchen (that is, left the living room, walked through the entryway and the dining room.) Okay, it isn't a massive house, but it was still a couple rooms away. There were 5 people standing in the kitchen talking and laughing.
George looked at me when I walked in and said, "What's up?"
"I'm just checking the burners on the stove," I replied.
Sure enough, one burner was on and wasn't lit. One of the guests had been leaning against the stove and accidentally turned on the gas.
Not a big problem - there was a fan running in the kitchen and another in the dining room. They actually helped get the odor to me in the living room. No one was feeling dizzy or nauseous. But... it could have been a problem if it had continued.
As of now I'm actually rather thankful that I smell the bad smells. If it keeps us alive a bit longer then it's a blessing!
