The Smell of Campfire

Isn't it amazing what can remind you of home when that's where you want to be?  It can be even he simplest of things.  In this case, it was the smell of campfire.  It smelled of burning leaves.  I have to admit, it's pretty easy to remind me of home these days.  Everything makes me think of it.  It's so easy to make me homesick in the fall.  In this case, I'm kind of surprised of the association.

The weather's been cooling off here in Texas.  We've been getting more rain.  The nights are starting earlier.  The wind is picking up.  It's not surprising that I'm starting to notice the transition into fall.  I love the fall, so the reminders should be everywhere.

In this case, I never expected the smell of campfire to remind me so much of home.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  I have fond memories from younger ages surrounding the smell of campfire.  I remember Girl Scouts.  I used to go camping with my troupe and there was always summer camp.  One of my fondest memories was watching my mom tend the fire, her hair braided and kept from her face with a bandanna.  My mom was never one of those gorgeous women, who always looked like a model or anything, but there was something beautiful about watching her crouch near that fire, fanning it up with a plate and throwing another log on.  My mother was truly gifted with fire.  I loved to tend the fire, yes, but more often than not, the reason I took that role was to watch my mom tending the fire.  She looked so natural there, and more beautiful than any woman I'd ever seen.

Because of those days, the smell of campfires remind me of a better time.  My mom and I haven't always been on the greatest of terms.  Sometimes we talk more than others.  Some time we don't talk at all.  Still, I have to wonder if I were to go camping with my mom and my kids if they would see what I would, that simplistic beauty of my mother, looking so at home and perfect beside the fire.  I have to wonder if my children will see the same in me.

That scent to me is so much more than fall, weather changing, and burning leaves.  It's so much more than camping with troupe 1044.  It's also that memory of my mom.  There are so many wonderful memories of her, almost all of them surrounded with nature.  If ever there was someone for me to associate as an earth mother, I think my own mother was it!

It all started with a candle that smelled of campfire...and it all ended with me missing home...