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The Smell of Childhood

**This essay was written for the final exams for the 2nd semester of my junior writing class. This assignment was to incorporate one phrase, word, subject and time, chosen from a variety of given option, into a narrative essay. I chose "I could have done that forever", 'spontaneous' (but also used 'marvel'), 'a strong smell', and 'during summer vacation' (but also 'when I was in kindergarten')

I remember most fondly my kindergarten summer vacation from the time I spent in USA. I remember spending most of my time in the pool, either taking early morning swimming classes with the friendly, fun loving life guard Kat or plating pool games with friends and family.

I remember how my friends and I would cannonball into the pool in the morning when the water was too cold to enter in any other way. I remember taking a short break to eat the wonderful snacks our parents would buy from McDonalds, eating salads, chicken nuggets and apple pies while shivering under a thin beach towel. I remember eagerly jumping back into the pool and refusing to come out until my fingers were pruney and it was beginning to turn dark. I remember the walk I took back home, my hand securely held by my mom, my wet feet leaving footprints on the sidewalk, and the sunset that we could not help but stop to marvel at.

I remember the fun game I spontaneously came up with one day. I gathered my friends and told them my idea: a competition to come up with the best perfume using materials found in the pool area. We split up into teams of two, each armed with a cup full of pool water. And off we went on a search for ingredients. We ground up all the different plants we could find, mixing a little bit of this with a little bit of that. Although most of my friends lost interest, I spent hours scavenging the bushes surrounding the pool. I could have done that forever. However, as the plants that grew nearby were not flowers as I had hoped but mostly green, odorless stems, I could not find anything that could even remotely overpower the chlorine smell of the pool water. Just as I was about to give up and join my friends to play Marco Polo, I found the secret ingredient that was hiding underneath my nose: sunblock. I mixed the green past that I had been grinding up all day into the water with just one drop of sunblock and my perfume was finished.

I took my perfume around and showed it to my parent and friends. I enjoyed watching their doubtful eyes fill with surprise, quickly followed by suspicion and finally filled with joy and humor when I told them my secret formula.

The smell of sunblock always takes me back to that day. Whenever I put on sunblock, I am taken back to the place that now only exists in my memories. The artificial, distinctive, and arguably pleasurable scent makes me experience the joy I felt and long for the innocent passion of my younger self that I sometimes fear I have lost for good. With the scent of sunblock, I am reminded of a time when I was truly happy, my only worries about how I could enjoy the next day to the fullest. To the me of the present, these memories are able to make me feel good and peaceful even when I am stressed and remind me of small but powerful happiness when I am unable to find happiness and all seems dark. I am grateful for the memories that can cheer me up, always waiting for me just a sunblock tube away.

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