The smell of fresh crayons makes me smile…

What is it with school supplies?   There is such a wonderful smell to them.  It’s right up there with that first day in fall when there is a crisp feel in the air and everything seems suddenly refreshed.

There are certain smells that send me right back to the halls of Medlock Elementary school.  If I could find a cardboard school box, I would put in a box of eight crayons, 2 sharpened pencils, a bottle of Elmer’s glue, a pair of safety scissors, a pink eraser, and a ruler.  Then I would put in on my desk at home and from time to time close my eyes, open the lid, and sniff.  Oh sweet childhood—it’s good to smell you again!  

Interestingly the smell of Pine-Sol has the same effect because the janitor at our elementary school was all about those black and white tiled floors being perfectly shiny, spotless, and clean.

Blend in the smell of a good cooked lunch with a Pine-Sol floor and you have our school cafeteria.  The janitor loved that white speckled tile in the cafeteria to be equally shiny, spotless, and clean.  The food was amazing in the cafeteria.  Maybe because it was the 70s, and food was still “real” and not so processed.  There weren’t a million choices.  You either ate what they had for the meal that day or you brought your lunch.  But the odds were good that the lunch was something your Grandma would have made you if you were at her house for lunch.  I remember some excellent lunches in elementary school—and I was proud to have my name on the clean plate club!

Of course when my mom bought me the coolest Snoopy doghouse lunchbox it was hard to decide between the delicious, school meal or the baloney with mayonnaise sandwich on white bread and Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie packed inside of Snoopy’s house!  How can you expect an 8 year old to make that kind of life decision?  That lunch box was AWESOME!

…. Just paused in my typing long enough to look on EBay. 

 And may I just say, what can’t you find on EBay?  Now I will have to bid on this and pack a baloney with mayo on white bread sandwich with a Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream pie and put it on my desk next to the school box with the awesome smelling crayons and freshly sharpened pencils.  Honestly, I’m in 4^th grade again and loving it!!

And what about you?  What smells take you right back to your school days?  Hoping and praying that those memories are sweet for you and that you can find a memorable smell that takes you back today!