I sniffed an iPad

So, I sniffed an iPad the other day.

Well, no, I didn't actually...but it made for a good draw, didn't it?

Anyway, despite the fact that I have NOT sniffed an iPad, I think I can say with some certainty that if I did, there would probably be something very vital missing.

You see, I am a very olfactory person. Smells just...get to me in a way that nothing else does.

I constantly smell everything, too. (That might be more of a tic, actually - in fact I think a certain someone [MOM] would definitely agree that it is...but we won't go into that just now)

Smells are constantly bringing memories flooding to mind, or certain emotions or connections to another person, place or experience. Maybe everyone experiences these things as intensely as I seem to, but whenever I've brought it up, most times I get wierd looks, so I've always assumed that smells are a little more of a Thing for me.

My point being that I cannot bring myself to get behind the iPad or Kindle, or any other "mobile reading device", because for heaven's sake "What about the smell?" Or lack thereof.

Books have always been my safety, my comfortable place. As a kid I would devour chapter books in an afternoon, and begin another as soon as I finished one. I don't know if it was my way of dealing with grief or whether it is just in my nature to crave that soothing calm that books always brought me. Maybe it was my control in an out of control world. My center...not just to avoid or escape, but just as my own way of regrouping.

So when I smell that book smell...oh, but I just feel like everything is as it should be.

And my favorite thing these days? That my daughter is loving herself some books. She could easily spend 15-20 minutes looking at a book, exclaiming to herself in baby babble whenever she turns a page, pointing with her chubby baby finger at all the things she sees. And she doesn't always want to be read to (although we do plenty of that, too). Sometimes she just wants to be by herself with her books. And I love that. Seeing her take so much joy in something that brought me so much joy is amazing. I hope that she grows up loving books..the feel of them, the weight of them in her hands, the pages full of thousands of words, the imagination they cultivate. And yes, the smell, too. I hope she notices the smell.