Lorra’s Blog

There are so many subtle but powerful scents in my daily life. The lemon grass hand lotion, the lavender goat milk soap, the artemesia and sweet orange shampoo, the Starbucks coffee and the Liberty vanilla yogurt – this all before 8 am. But these are everyday Vancouver scents that I’ve come to take for granted.

On Sunday I volunteered at the Van Dusen Plant Sale and found myself carting trays of 4″ pots of cilantro. Slightly at first, and then incredibly intensely, the scent of the cilantro was released by my touch and it seemed to flow through every pore in my body. It was a wonderful warm, fresh, almost citrus, slightly spicy, parsely scent. It instantly brought back memories of my life in San Diego. The heat, the proximity to Mexico, the salsa and guacamole, the sea breezes and the Santa Ana winds all came flooding back into me in that moment. Then I remembered what I was supposed to be doing and got back to carting the trays.

I am grateful to my mother for always having pets in our home. Cats, dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, fish, turtles – you name it we had it. Except the monkey. And this was in the city, nowhere near any farms! I don’t have any memory of how the animals came to live with us. They were just always there. My Mom always called them our four legged friends.

Recently my mother found a photo of me holding my hamster in a coconut shell with our dog’s nose two inches from the hamster, lovingly ready to lick it. It’s a black and white photo from 1972. The scene is peaceful quiet suburbia.

My daughter just got a hamster so it was one of those full circle moments for me.  

I vaguely remember my 12 year old self in the photo but I remember those animals clearly. I think it’s a sign of the times – 35 years on – that Mom’s have forgotten how to slow down and create and enjoy the moments that last, the moments they had in their own childhood – albeit with mothers who were likely less busy outside the home.

Thanks Mom for providing the time and space for us to play with and love the animals in our lives.