smells like china.

it has never been my intention to dwell in the past, but sometimes it is really good to just make myself at home in a memory. i love to look through old pictures and read old journal entries. the past is comfortable -- you've conquered it; what is left to fear? still, it's inevitable that i get a little emotional at some stop in the road that is memory lane and that is typically where i'll put the old photos and journals away until the next time i'm feeling nostalgic. lately, though, rather than making myself at home in a memory, it has been the memory making itself at home in me. i can't shake it. it's not a specific memory that reoccurs but a specific place...

it's asia that's haunting me.

honestly, i can't count how many times in the last several weeks that i've thought about my time in asia, specifically china (although experiences in other parts of asia were amazing as well). these thoughts and the feelings that surround them haven't been prompted by anything physical (something i see or touch), although, i must admit that my senses are at work...

life smells like china.

i can't explain it. my life and the things in it aren't necessarily china-esque; still, i have these random moments where i'll think to myself (or say out loud), "that smells like china."

some people have visions, flashbacks, or a photographic memory that takes them back to a specific time or place. for me, i experience smells, and lately i'm not convinced the smells are even real. honestly, how do you recreate the aroma that is so unique to china here in kansas?

i don't know what it is, but i like it. after all, china IS kind of a big deal. ;)