About 5 years ago I was walking through a mall killing time. I wandered into one of those Perfumania stores.
Behind the counter was a bottle I hadn’t seen in almost 40 years (or at least never noticed). I asked the girl, “is that the same Aramis from 100 years ago?!?! Can I smell it?” She handed it to me, I took a whiff and instantly, I was a little kid, smelling my dad again. My head was spinning at the immediate flashback I was having.
Wow, if that wasn’t a bond to my dad, I don’t know what is!
I thought, can I have that kind of bond with my kids being so far away and not seeing them daily? Let me explore …
It needed to be a unique scent. Something they wouldn’t smell anywhere else except with me.
A few months later, I was wandering through Saks Fifth Avenue (the original one in NYC). Walking by the men’s cologne department, a sign caught my eye, “The World’s Most Expensive Cologne”. Hell, I gotta smell this. I wasn’t sure if the snooty person behind the counter was there to sell the cologne or guard it. Before I could try it on, I had to get the lecture about the gold bottle engraved with the signature crown of Queen Victoria and how this sophisticated scent is created from the rarest, finest ingredients. Um, can you just hand me the bottle please? Nope, Mr Snooty had to apply it. Guess they didn’t want to risk my fingerprints on the gold. He gently sprays (as of I’m going to be whisked away by the magical scent). I sniff … whoa nelly! Right up there with the best of the best in the mosquito repellent aisle at CVS! Deep down I was hoping I wouldn’t like it … still assuming it had to be a couple hundred bucks, right? As I attempted to seem “pleased” with the scent, I casually asked how much it was. If the scent didn’t make my eyes bug out, the price tag made made them bug out like I was related to Homer Simpson … (sit down for this one) … 895 … eight dollars and ninety-five cents? Um, no, move the decimal point over a couple. Let’s get back to the main point of this story …
Next to this bottle called “No. 1” (but smelled like No.2) were other colognes by this designer. One of the bottles simply had a “C” on it. I call my older son “C” … short for “CJ” … because “CJ” is way too long to get out … I mean, what if he fell in a well and I had to go get help …
Back to the story … the name intrigued me … it was “rare”, that intrigued me … the actual scent, not so much … but still better than “No.2”. At half the price, it was a bargain! (sense the sarcasm). Eh, if only to have a bottle with a “C” on there was worth a try.
I started wearing it when I was with my kids. I gave a squirt to the letters I was writing to them daily. Fast forward a few months … I get my little guys … give them hugs … my youngest, Cameron (not “Cam”, it’s “Cameron”, better hope he doesn’t fall in a well) … Cameron hugs me, and says with an air of relief in his voice … “Ahhh you smell like daddy!”
BINGO! I have bingo!
It’s five years on and the cologne is now refered to as “daddy smell”. Whenever we have to part ways, they ask me to spray their favorite stuffed animal with “daddy smell”. They ask for some on their arm so they can smell it the next day.
It’s a scent that still isn’t the most pleasant to me, but I’ll wear it every day I’m with them until I’m gone. My goal, as in everything I do, is for them to one day find an old bottle, long after I’m gone, open it, take a whiff and be transported back to being that little kid with his daddy.