Scents, Sights and Sounds of Comfort

At 2:15 this morning my alarm sounded. It was time to get Perri out of bed and ready to head out the door. Her eighth grade class is spending the next couple of days in Washington DC and with the events that have unfolded in the last few days, this makes me more than just a little nervous. DC is not the place I would have chosen to send her at this point in time, but these plans were made months ago. It has been an eighth grade tradition here for years and years. I know that security is high. I also know that she'll be having the time of her life! Her first BIG trip without her family tagging along, enjoying the sights and the history, learning so much and also having fun with her friends. Memories are being made and they're memories she'll cherish for years to come.

And yet I had trouble falling back to sleep once she was gone. You know me. I'll fret until she's safely home again.

Now I'll get to the point. ; )

In an attempt to relax and allow the Sandman to do his job (after all, the alarm would sound again at 7:00 a.m. so I could get Tucker off to school!) I used one of my old can't get to sleep tricks. I started thinking about things that bring me comfort, or take me back to a simpler time in my life. I've found that's the best way for me to drift away to dreamland. : )

The sound of a screen door.

It is one of the most identifiable sounds from my childhood. You know that stretchy-spring-sound when someone opens it and the gentle wooden-door-meets-door-frame sound when someone closes it without allowing it to slam. (You did NOT allow my Mama's door to slam!) My Mama Jones (my maternal grandmother) had a screen door on the house where she lived when I was very young. It was such a novelty to me because our house had a metal storm door. I used to delight in stretching that spring and picking it like a guitar string! :) To this day I love that sound. That is why I now have a screen door on my house. :)

The scent of these comfy old quilts
blowing in the breeze on a warm summer day.

Or bed sheets or towels or anything else that's hanging out to dry. And there's nothing quite like the feel of them and the aroma that envelopes you when you pull them out of the linen closet. Serious comfort there. : )

A beach. Soft sand, cool water, warm sunshine.

And the sound. How I love the sounds of the ocean. It is so humbling to stand on the beach and let the enormity, the vastness of it overcome you. Put you in your place, so to speak. And bring you the comforting realization that there most definitely IS a God. The proof is all around you every single day, but somehow it is even more obvious on a beach.

So tell me. What scents, sights and sounds bring you comfort?