Grey Flannel

I was behind my dad walking into church on Sunday morning this past week when I felt overcome by inexplicable contentment and secure happiness.  It took me half a second to realize that I could smell his Grey Flannel cologne, and another half-second to realize it was the reason for my happiness.

Every Sunday morning smelled like Grey Flannel when I was a child and we were all getting ready for church.  It also smelled like that on nights that my parents would get dressed up and go out on a date or for some military formal function.   To me, it's the smell of security, love, and devotion.  I immediately decided that Marcus needed something to be our future children's "Grey Flannel" for their olfactory-stimulated subconscious development.  It can't be Grey Flannel, though, because that's what their granddaddy will smell like to them.

It can't be anything too popular, either.  Part of the reason the smell of Grey Flannel creates such a strong response is that the only person in the whole wide world that I've smelled it on is my Daddy.  After church, I was telling Marcus that we have a quest to find him a cologne that can be like Grey Flannel is to me for our children.  First he reminded me that he likes his Polo Sport.  I reminded him of the importance of it being a rare or original smell, and he suggested we go to Belk and sniff at the fragrance counter.

The problem that we've run into is that every time we grabbed at a cologne we'd never heard of (and therefore know that no one else uses) it smelled like a Russian cab driver.  (I've actually never sniffed a Russian cab driver, nor been in a Russian cab, nor a cab being driven by a Russian, NOR any cab at all!  Anyway, it's an expression.)

I'm not sure why I feel it's necessary to try and recreate my childhood for my children.  It says a lot about my childhood, though.  It says that I must have felt that it was worth replicating.  Or maybe there are wonderful things about it that are worth replicating, and then there are other things about it that, assuming all other things are the same, could be changed and I would have turned out better--less inhibited, more self-loving, etc, and I think maybe a person thinks they get to redo their own lives once they have children.  This is probably a thought only a non-parent would have.  Oh well, we'll see.

I still want Marcus to have a special Sunday morning cologne.