It is little known outside my immediate family (the Core 6) that my sense of smell is off. As in, much of the time, I smell nothing. Probably half the time, I have absolutely no sense of smell. Most of the other half of the time, I have a weak sense of smell. Every once in a while, my smell comes back full force. There is no underlying medical condition. It happened about three years ago, after a particularly wicked virus. I picture it like a faulty electric connection, flickering to life every once in a while. Here are things in life that change when you can’t rely on your sense of smell:

• I am super weird about my personal hygiene. I used to skip days of showering, but now I don’t usually skip, because I can’t tell if my B.O. is present. So shower every day.

• Mints. Lots and lots of mints. I gave up gum years ago because I thought it was messing with my teeth and jaw, so now I have mints. Although, in general, I couldn’t smell my own breath anyway, even when I could smell, now I am more self-conscious of it.

• You ask people to smell things. I may hold up my shoe and ask my kids if the shoe smells. They don’t smell it, but it’s entertaining to ask anyway. Who doesn’t want to witness another teenage eye-roll?

• When Tayden (or anyone, but especially Tayden) farts in the car, everyone is jealous of me. It’s one of the small perks.

• People think that you will stop tasting things, but my sense of taste has compensated, so everything pretty much tastes like it should. So, no weight loss benefit here. Although, I miss the smell of cookies when I bake. And, since my taste buds are now super-human, I still eat the cookies right out of the oven.

• Skunk spray actually has a taste. It passes right through those two senses. Actually, I occasionally find other smells that have a taste… and they always seem to be unpleasant smells.

• I find smells that I miss… like wine, cookies, freshly washed kids (even teenagers smell good after a shower), newly laundered clothes, ripe strawberries.

• Sometimes my smell turns on full force. If I am in a place with a lot of smells, like a restaurant, or perfume department, I get nauseous and have to leave. I am completely overwhelmed with normal.

• I don’t miss the smell of my stinky dogs. I love them even more now that I can’t smell them or their breath.

• I try to stay far away from people at the gym, if possible. I am afraid I may excessively stink and just not know it.

• I love the smell of fall. I’ve missed a few falls now.

• When I can smell like I used to, and I’m not completely overwhelmed, I smell EVERYTHING, both good and bad. It’s interesting. I usually stop what I am doing and walk around taking in the smells. There are a LOT of smells all the time. Unfortunately, when it turns on, it only stays on a short time.

• I had to stop re-wearing clothes. Well, not totally. I re-wear jeans. But when in doubt, toss it in the wash.

So, take some time to smell the roses. If memory serves, they smell pretty good. Maybe some year, my brain will reroute that sense of smell and I can see if memory serves correctly.