Yesterday I went out to breakfast with my mom.  We were talking about the smell of her coffee and somehow the topic changed to smells.  And the link between smells and memory.

In the course of this I learned something.

There are no smells that I have memories attached to.  Honestly.  Which I thought was kind of bizarre because most people do.  The closest I could maybe think of is ocean air, like being at the beach.  But even then it doesn't remind me of a particular place or time.  Just reminds me of...the beach, end of story.

I had never really thought about it before.  What types of things trigger my memories.  I've concluded I'm more of a visual person.  When I see spatulas I think of Jayme and I cleaning the bowl out after making cookies.  When I see a salmon fillet I think of the time mom decided to get creative and put Pina Colada yogurt on salmon while it was baking in the oven.  When I see the gallon jug of the Monarch I think of that time in junior high in Rachel's basement when we were mixing 2/3 of a 16 oz glass (this will be the math portion of today's journal) with the 'Arch and 1/3 of Welches.

I wonder how common this is.  To really not have any memories linked to smell.

I  would be interested in knowing what is different about my brain than others that has disturbed the link between my old factory and memories.

Does anyone else have anything weird like this?

Riddle me this Batman: How come travelers cannot identify their luggage?

Standing at the baggage carousel on a recent trip, I noticed the confusion and plain inattention on many of my fellow traveler's faces.  I mean I can understand some confusion, say if you have a black wheelie bag that's a standard size.  But don't you take stock of your luggage before you even check it.

Know your luggage people.  Know how your wheels look, how the handle looks.  Because even of the black bags I saw none of them were exactly identical. 

Example: American Airlines LAS to PDX
I have a maroon larger than standard wheelie.  I would say maybe the 4th most popular color after black, blue and green.  It is very distinctive, and yet someone tried to pick up my bag.  I watch in awe as they pull it towards them and then look at the tag on the handle. 

Firstly I have an old America West paper tag on the handle.  I'm talking very old.  Does she have an America West tag on her handle?  I doubt it.  She actually checked the number on her baggage claim stub.  Incredible!  I was curious so after she put it back on the carousel I waited for her correct luggage to arrive.  So I could see for myself the remarkable similarity in our luggage choice, perhaps resulting in our buying best friends forever necklaces and drinking cosmopolitans and talking about sex and the city (gag).

Dear readers - her bag was smaller than mine, had different wheels, different handles - and was not even the same color.  And yes, no ancient faded America West tag on the top handle. 

My curiosity grew so I hung out at the baggage claim for a good 45 minutes to a hour (I'm on vacation people, I can do whatever I want!).  I watched others retrieve luggage only to set it back down and take their rightful baggage that looked nothing like the first that they grabbed.  Many times.  Multiple people.  Amazing.

I'm beginning to wonder if those security questions they ask when you drop off checked luggage aren't valid.  People make fun of them, "No ma'am I have no idea what is in my baggage." Perhaps they should add a question: "Do you know what your bag looks like?"