I Got Dreams To Remember

As a child, living outside of Reno, Nevada, my family and I would take a couple of road trips a year to Northern California to visit my mother's relatives. Oftentimes, these were long weekends centered around Thanksgiving or Easter holidays. In order to stay the optimum amount of time, we would usually leave home in the afternoon or early evening. I realize now that the intent was for me to sleep during the ride, but I was usually too excited to see my cousins and grandparents to simply, "close my eyes and go to sleep." I anticipated the great fun and adventures in store for me down by the creek, inside the barn, and gawd knows where else we could ride our bikes or walk to.

Occasionally I would nap on the enormous vinyl bench seat, untethered by belts or booster chairs, and I vividly remember on a number of trips, being jarred awake by the slowing of the family Dodge Swinger. I always expected us to be turning onto my grandparents' long bumpy driveway to their big, old house. Most of the time, however, we were only turning onto another winding two-lane highway that dropped the cream-colored automobile out of the Sierra Nevada's and into the vast, open, and green orchards, ranches, and farmlands of the Red Bluff, California area. It was almost always raining, or wet from a recent shower, no matter the season. The smell that poured into the back seat from my father's lowered driver-side window, always engulfed me with scents I can still taste from memory. They are childhood aromatic delights that transport me to a happy and worrisome time in my life.

My most treasured smell is the same one that always turns my wife's smile into a disgusted wrenching grimace. I instinctively reach for the handle and lower my driver-side window to allow the ambrosia-tic aroma to fill my nostrils. It is the faint scent of skunk.

Having lived in an environment where skunks are more common than stray cats, I get to recall my early years often, however, being so close to the striped creatures does not mean that I appreciate the potent STRONG stench that easily burns the nostalgia of those dark nights spent driving of long ago.