Stop and Smell the Roses

This morning I celebrated Labor Day with my daughter Brooke. While walking back from breakfast, she commented on the wonderful smell of the roses we just walked by. I paused and thought, "what a great day to 'stop and smell the roses' as Mac Davis used to sing." I turned around and smelled the roses, but smelled nothing.

I asked Brooke if she could smell them and she said yes even from where she stood (further away). I tried again and smelled nothing. I asked her what roses smelled like. She seemed surprised that I had no sense of their smell. My mother operated a florist shop, I was the delivery boy and had no recollection of a smell of those roses either. Until today, I truly thought that roses were chosen for their appearance! I have also been gardening ten rose bushes for years and harvesting their blossoms for vases in the house without any awareness of smell.

I googled the term and saw several scary articles about the onset of cancer or Parkinson's, but realized that I couldn't smell roses forty years ago, so health issues are not the driver. I searched further and found articles about the "sweet" smell of roses, but apparently that is simply not in my olfactory vocabulary. I might have to rephrase to "stop and smell the magnolias" (which has never been a problem).