Old Smells

I was walking home from school today when I caught a sudden whiff of pine and maple. It immediately brought back childhood memories, mostly of books, old and yellowed. It's like when I open an old book and stick my nose into the binding and inhale. It also strongly reminded of thrift stores and antique shops, repositories of classic items and ancient collectible books. My family shopped at thrift stores all the time when I was a child and I would always head straight to the books section. Since it was a thrift store, a lot of the books were very old and worn, dating back to the 50s and 70s. I loved those old books. I loved gently opening the pages and reading the tiny, myopic, squished font and seeing how the book was turning the color of burnt toast around its edges. Ah, childhood memories.

I'm an adult now and I still head to the books section of thrift shops and stick my nose into the old books. Some things never change.