Every once in a while, there is a taste or smell that just takes me back to another time or place. For example, whenever I use a particular shampoo, it reminds me of showering at my friends, the Atkins', house in London. I think it's because when I lived there for so long, I used this shampoo from Bath & Body Works. I identify that smell with my time spent there. Those were fun times, and even more fun when sharing one bathroom with about six or eight folks at any given time! Everyone knows there are smells of favorite foods prepared by a loved one that take you back to holiday meal...Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter.
Today I was caught by surprise as I bit into my Waldorf Chicken Salad at Flavor Cafe & Bakery. It took me back much further than my time in the UK. It took me to New Smyrna Beach, FL when I was six, seven, eight, nine, ten years old. We traveled there each summer when I was a child, staying several weeks in a condo by the sea. I can hear the waves crashing now, see my Dad and I creating drizzly tops to the sandcastles we'd build every morning. We stayed at a place called Colony Beach Club. Back in the mid-to-late 80s, this was a happening place. It was not a high-rise condo like so many that dot the same beach's shore today. It was a simple, two story sprawling complex complete with a boardwalk down to the beach and a pool.
It was at the Colony Beach Club that we met Mildred and Pop Taylor. I don't remember Pop's full name because to me he was always just Pop. That's what his grandchildren called him. The Taylors lived at Colony Beach Club, and over the years we became friends, exchanging Christmas cards and visiting every summer.
When I bit into that sandwich today I was transported back to Pop & Nan's beach condo where I would sit and talk to them for hours, a chatty little girl entertaining an elderly couple talking about who knows what. We had a good time together. Pop liked to fish, and Nan liked to talk. I didn't ever eat that chicken salad at their house, but something in the mayonnaise made me remember the smell and feel of their little beach side home.
Nan and Pop are gone now, passed away a few years back. I was sad when I found out; even as an adult it moved me. That little couple influenced me and created beautiful memories on the canvas of my mind. I'll never forget them.
Today I was caught by surprise as I bit into my Waldorf Chicken Salad at Flavor Cafe & Bakery. It took me back much further than my time in the UK. It took me to New Smyrna Beach, FL when I was six, seven, eight, nine, ten years old. We traveled there each summer when I was a child, staying several weeks in a condo by the sea. I can hear the waves crashing now, see my Dad and I creating drizzly tops to the sandcastles we'd build every morning. We stayed at a place called Colony Beach Club. Back in the mid-to-late 80s, this was a happening place. It was not a high-rise condo like so many that dot the same beach's shore today. It was a simple, two story sprawling complex complete with a boardwalk down to the beach and a pool.
It was at the Colony Beach Club that we met Mildred and Pop Taylor. I don't remember Pop's full name because to me he was always just Pop. That's what his grandchildren called him. The Taylors lived at Colony Beach Club, and over the years we became friends, exchanging Christmas cards and visiting every summer.
When I bit into that sandwich today I was transported back to Pop & Nan's beach condo where I would sit and talk to them for hours, a chatty little girl entertaining an elderly couple talking about who knows what. We had a good time together. Pop liked to fish, and Nan liked to talk. I didn't ever eat that chicken salad at their house, but something in the mayonnaise made me remember the smell and feel of their little beach side home.
Nan and Pop are gone now, passed away a few years back. I was sad when I found out; even as an adult it moved me. That little couple influenced me and created beautiful memories on the canvas of my mind. I'll never forget them.
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