A Smell That Can Bring Back Memories

Every little thing can make us feel nostalgic in a way. As long as that thing is related to our past, it can trigger many memories that will leave you staring at nowhere, reminiscing about things that are deeply connected to us. Whether it's a good or a bad memory, it will still lingers from the back of our minds to the illusions in front of our eyes, reminding us that it has happened before, through that certain things which triggers it.

For me, that certain thing or sense rather, which triggers a nostalgic feeling within me everyday is the smell of coffee every time. Perhaps, I'm just addicted to coffee that's why I like it. Yet, there's more than that if I will dig in deeper into my memories.

Source: Image by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Coffee —this is the thing that I often hear from my parents as they woke up early in the morning everyday. My mother would wake up first as early as 4 am in the morning every day, whether she has other work to do or would just stay at home. The first thing she would do as she reached the kitchen was to burn the dried woods in a traditional stove in the province to boil water for the coffee.

In the countryside, whether the weather is fine or raining, all of the mornings are always freezing. I can even see thick fogs at 6 am when I wake up. Afterwards, it will slowly fade when the sun rises behind the mountains. If you don't want to catch a cold or a clogged nose, you better drink hot water, coffee, milk, or chocolate in the morning. Yet, in my case, I just wrapped myself in a blanket and continue sleeping until 8 am.

Since my parents are busier than me, the one who would wake up next would be my father. The first thing that he would mention first as he woke up is coffee, and he would ask my mother to give him a cup of coffee as he sits in front of the kitchen table. With his cup on his hand, he would roam the ricefields to check if there are grasses, wild herbs, or pests that are manifesting in the rice stalks. He would thoroughly check the whole ricefield while sipping his coffee. When he came back, he would eat his breakfast , then he would came back to the ricefields as he knows what to do with it already.

My mother, on the other hand, after she finish preparing our breakfast, she would do household chores and will help maintaining the sugarcanes in her free time. My brothers will ask the same as they wake up before proceeding to their certain tasks. As I grow up in the scenario like that everyday, I have learned how to love coffee, too.

Nothing beats the native coffee, the one that is brewed and will be skimmed in a colander every time you make one. I often love the aroma it released when I pour hot water into the colander wherein a coffee powder is added. I'm sure that I'm not the only who is like this. It is hereditary, I guess. It came from my great grandparents and was passed down to us.

Coffee has long been a part of our daily lives and our family considered it as our needs. The price of coffee in the market has been becoming like gold as time passed by, and as a family who has large number, it would be expensive. It is the reason why my mother planted coffee trees in our backyard when we were kids. From a few, it has become a lot as its seeds were scattered around our house every harvest. My mother knows the process very well and how to roast the beans well to make a good coffee. We can save a lot from it and has always been a great help.

That's why everytime I smell the aroma of coffee, it reminds me the hard work of my parents to wake up early in the morning just to do their jobs well to earn a living for us. They are not a perfect parent. We argue and fight a lot but I greatly appreciate their effort in raising the five of us. Every time I sip coffee in my cup, no matter how bitter it is, it will be good in my taste buds as it registered the smell of perseverance that I have learned since then.

This is another random question that I got from the random topic generator of the website, "Capitalize My Title." Just saving a day of another absence from writing, so feel free to do so if you feel like it.

Thanks for reading!!!

• Let's see each other in Hive. Here's my profile.

• Lead Images were edited from Canva

• Images are mine unless specified

• You can also find me at;

Twitter|Instagram|Telegram|Hive|Noise. cash