Campbells
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Text: Smells can elicit a pleasurable memory for one person while being an unpleasant reminder to others. The aroma of cow manure still reminds me of the good times I had as a youngster exploring the wooded area behind the barn. So it’s not so strange an association for me, but to others it sounds absurd. My great-grandfather created for me just such an odd association. He had a nightly ritual that lingers vividly in my memory. The mysterious object of this nocturnal activity was a Campbell's soup can placed under the bed. When nature called, my grandpa would get up and relieve himself into the can. When finished, he placed the can back under the bed and crawled back into bed. In the morning, he took the "pee-can" and shuffled off to the bathroom. After a while though, the pungent odor that wafted from the empty can beneath the bed demanded replacement. It was never a smell that consciously co-mingled in my mind with other pleasant farm smells. Now, however, when I'm driving through farm country and detect the aromatic smell of fresh manure, I remember old grandpa and his "pee-can" and I have to smile at the comic irony in the twisted association. |
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