Just saw I had a blog view from Georgia (Caucasus). It immediately brought to mind that beautiful song, Rainy Night in Georgia, then just plain Georgia, then Georgia on my Mind and finally Why Georgia. And I thought, why is it that I just love all songs about Georgia? Is it because they all have such haunting tunes, or memorable and meaningful lyrics? Perhaps they relate to particularly happy times in my life - although nothing springs to mind, just a feeling of total relaxation as I melt into the melody. This is not the Caucasian Georgia, it's the American state, which I've never been to and know nothing about, but somehow something just resonates for me. Perhaps I will go there someday.
Usually a song is a trigger for a flashback to a very particular event in my life, but smells have the same effect.
Today I went to Ellie's Deli at Cape Dutch Gardens in Noordhoek to meet the family for brunch, and as I stepped through the doorway I was instantly transported 50 years back in time to the holiday farm we used to stay at in Baden, near Montagu. It was as though I had walked into the dining room where everyone sat for breakfast, lunch and supper (full board in those days!) and was seated at the table, with the young girl serving us our food, dishing directly onto the plates in front of us. The only actual food I remember was the vegetables and the plastic 3-sectioned serving dish - I suppose because it was very close to my face, being only 5 or 6 years old. But it was the smell of that room that I smelled as I walked into the restaurant this morning.
The mind is an amazing thing, keeping in its memory (for me, anyway) the very best moments of life and the sounds, scents and sights associated with them, enabling me to relive them with instant recall at a trigger. If there is nothing else that proves that there is no time but Now, these moments are so vivid that I feel, if I closed my eyes, it would have just happened.
Don't you get that feeling sometimes?
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