The home scent

We are going back to December 2016. It's my birthday, I am turning 39. Last birthday back in London. But at that time, I never suspected it. I don't remember the celebration, or most of the presents received.  I remember one, though. One that arrived a bit later, once 2017 had started, when I met my friend L, quite probably around spring time.

She always gave me a birthday present as soon as she met me. She never missed a year and consistently produced a little something for me, even if that meant that I would be unpacking my tiny, but meaningful, surprise months after the day.

This time it was a home scent. The label in the box read: 

“Happiness home mist” “Scent to make you happy”

On the upper lid, you could read: “Scent to make you feel good”.

It provided as well an explanation of how was formulated and stats about the percentage of customers that felt uplifted and in a better mood after trying it. I smelled the fragrance and liked it. Since I was already packing my life to be taken to Madrid, I put it in a box, and a few months later, unpacked it. 

When I found it again, in an empty house, at my new place, I could only take literally each of its beautifully printed words.

My old furniture was not there, except for my daughter’s bed, a bookshelf and a desk (that was poorly delivered and broken into pieces -as a metaphor of my own self). The house was empty and, bit by bit, pieces of brand new furniture were arriving to fill it up. They provided comfort, but failed dramatically to give me the cosy and warmth feeling of being at home.

I loved my home scent for many reasons: It was coming from my old life; from a dearest friend; I couldn’t have imagined how much I would have needed it; and of course, I enjoyed its neroli, mimosa and lemon fragrance. 

Now that you get the picture of the situation, I’d like to move from my melodramatic mood to a more comical tone.  This way, I could hide and mask, somehow, how desperately I used the thing: You could see me spraying it everywhere. Soaking curtains, pillows, spraying in the bed, the couch and whatever piece of fabric on my sight. I believed in it as a new gospel given to me. I remember showing it to relatives, coming to visit, as some exciting treasure, new awesome discovery, a must-have item for humankind. 

Imagine my friends and relatives’ faces just for a second. Please.

I could stop here, just finish my entry now, or keep going and tell you as well that, I could not refrain myself to follow what the product called “Top happiness tip”.

I guess, at this point, any chance that you could take myself or this blog seriously, is gone. So, what the heck, I keep going. And you must feel curious too!

“To create a scent cloud on the go, spritz the mist, breathe in through your nose for 7 seconds and out through your mouth slowly for 11 seconds”.

Yes, I did it. It’s pretty cool walking in that cloud of happiness and feeling a bit like if you are using a magic potion. The spell did not last much, but doesn’t matter, does it?

As the months were passing, I started to forget that I have it, and one day, I just stopped using it.