Every month the @Silverbloggers group puts up a blog of the month challenge and prompts to follow.

For August, the prompt is "scents."

When I first read this, I figured I would skip this month. Nothing sprang to mind right away.

However, after thinking about it this past week. I was inspired to write about a particular scent that always triggers a memory.

The olfactory sense is an awesome trigger to bring back memories of days past. Whether it be a good or bad memory, it will snap into place quickly.

My memory trigger scent may sound weird to some, but it is the smell of cutting oil

Cutting oil has a distinctive smell to it. Whenever I smell it, it immediately reminds me of my childhood and my father.

You see, my Dad was a tool and die maker. This is a specialized area of expertise involving the machinist and manufacturing fields.

My Dad would build dies that would be used to punch out metal parts used in the manufacturing process of just about everything.

Dad would take a piece of steel and turn it into a die. This required milling, cutting on saws and lathes, and grinding.

When you are cutting steel, it gets very hot, so you need to apply cutting oil to it frequently so you do not overheat your cutting tool.

When Dad would come home after work, He would smell like cutting oil.

I have vivid memories of this.

Whenever I smell cutting oil, it reminds me of my Dad coming home from work.

I lost my Dad over 2 years ago, but when I smell cutting oil, it is like he is in the room with me.

Thanks for indulging me and my memories.

Until next time,
John Novak

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