Gretchen Rubin, of the Happiness-Project (www.happiness-project.com) , asked the happiness question of the day:  What is your favorite perfume?  Mine is Miracle by Lancôme.

I’ve been wearing it for years and everyone who knows me, knows that is my fragrance. They may not know the name but they recognize it as Sandi’s, my sister’s or my friend’s or my Aunt Sandi’s scent.

It is important to me to have a signature fragrance.   It is so important to me, and I hope to others, that when I ran out just before going up to Buffalo for Gramma Velda’s funeral I made sure to go and restock.  I couldn’t risk my niece and nephew or even more importantly my summer sister Kyle not recognizing the familiar scent that surrounds every hug I have ever handed out.

Sandra and I once ventured down to Philly for a weekend with my friend Beth.  When she walked into my room before heading out she smiled and said, oh your room smells just like you.   I had just put on my perfume.  I know she had the same comfort when I arrived in her hospital room last January when she broke her legs.

I used to spritz the light bulbs on Oak Tree Road so himself would always have that scent in the air.  Even if he couldn’t come back from that dark place the aroma would be familiar and perhaps, just maybe, get him back to that place called normal.  I don’t even know if he realized there was a scent in the air or if he ever smelled it again there would be an association, but it was my way of making myself memorable.

Aroma is powerful, it can transport you back to a wonderful childhood memory or to a hospital stay, and to the day you took the SATs or outside the Dairy Queen on a hot summer day, think the strawberries they use on a sundae.  When I eat french fries in the car from MacDonald’s when I’m traveling I am immediately transported back in time to our rides that ended at MacDonald for dinner when we were kids.

My insistence on a signature fragrance stems from memories of my father.  He wore Old Spice his entire life and every time I smell it, which isn’t often anymore, I think of him.  Making “funny faces” in the mirror while shaving and then putting just a splash of that on to start his day is one of the strongest most powerful memories I have of him.

I hope that Miracle will prove to do the same for me, it’s all part of the plan, all part of a legacy.  When you smell it I hope you will think of me fondly.