A rose by any other name …
Jul 16, 2026 · 11 min · 8 segments
The power of a specific smell to summon up memories from the past is incredible
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Jul 16, 2026 · 11 min · 8 segments
The power of a specific smell to summon up memories from the past is incredible
And I guess one smell that always triggers an intense memory for me is the smell of skunk.
And it's not for the reasons that you think.
We've all smelled skunk, you know, roadkill, or walked outside and a skunk has clearly sprayed somewhere in the distance and you catch that odor.
Those are pretty common things.
But I associate the smell of skunk, first of all, I find it to be a very positive smell.
Now, I've never been sprayed in the face by a skunk.
I'm sure since my rabid raccoon attack that that's only a matter of time.
before I have an encounter with a skunk.
But I never have been so close to a skunk where the spray made me sick or something like that.
But I'll tell you what I associate the smell of skunk with.
I never knew my two grandfathers.
They were long gone by the time I was growing up.
So unfortunately, I never got to meet either one of them.
However, I did have a grandfather figure when my dad's mother remarried a man who just turned out to be the most amazing guy.
And he's so amazing that my son's middle name is named after Boyd.
And Boyd was this really enigmatic guy who, my grandparents lived in Oil City, Pennsylvania.
And he's kind of this amazing self-made man.
He built his own home, mostly out of stone, this amazing house, one of the most amazing houses I've ever seen.
But anyway, we would go up to visit my grandparents, my grandmother and her husband Boyd, in Oil City, Pennsylvania, which is a very mountainous area, a lot of rivers, you know, just a beautiful place in Pennsylvania.
And I don't know where the hell he would take us, but it was just wilderness woods in the mountains.
I don't know if that's the real name, the technical name of the plant, but he called it skunk cabbage.
And once you got deep enough into the woods, you could smell this skunk cabbage everywhere.
And I guess one smell that always triggers an intense memory for me is the smell of skunk.
And it's not for the reasons that you think.
We've all smelled skunk, you know, roadkill, or walked outside and a skunk has clearly sprayed somewhere in the distance and you catch that odor.
Those are pretty common things.
But I associate the smell of skunk, first of all, I find it to be a very positive smell.
Now, I've never been sprayed in the face by a skunk.
I'm sure since my rabid raccoon attack that that's only a matter of time.
before I have an encounter with a skunk.
But I never have been so close to a skunk where the spray made me sick or something like that.
But I'll tell you what I associate the smell of skunk with.
I never knew my two grandfathers.
They were long gone by the time I was growing up.
So unfortunately, I never got to meet either one of them.
However, I did have a grandfather figure when my dad's mother remarried a man who just turned out to be the most amazing guy.
And he's so amazing that my son's middle name is named after Boyd.
And Boyd was this really enigmatic guy who, my grandparents lived in Oil City, Pennsylvania.
And he's kind of this amazing self-made man.
He built his own home, mostly out of stone, this amazing house, one of the most amazing houses I've ever seen.
But anyway, we would go up to visit my grandparents, my grandmother and her husband Boyd, in Oil City, Pennsylvania, which is a very mountainous area, a lot of rivers, you know, just a beautiful place in Pennsylvania.
And I don't know where the hell he would take us, but it was just wilderness woods in the mountains.
I don't know if that's the real name, the technical name of the plant, but he called it skunk cabbage.
And once you got deep enough into the woods, you could smell this skunk cabbage everywhere.
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