Shortly after my father’s passing, there was a moment where my older daughter Miriam had walked into the room to hug me. I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her back, unaware that she was wearing one of my father’s jackets. My nose was instantly filled with his scent, and just as instantly, I was transported through so many memories. I had tears running down my face as I saw myself, 12 years old again, giving my father a kiss before he left for work. I was 17 years old, sitting on the couch with him, with my head on his shoulder, watching TV. I was 23 years old and talking with him about my upcoming wedding. A jolt of electricity went through me as I relived these precious moments, all via the vehicle of the scent of my father.
This is what is known as the Proustian moment. College term papers are written about this theme—it’s studied and examined and meditated on. It is defined as a sensory experience, like a smell, that triggers a memory of a time, place, or experience. The term is named after a passage in Proust’s “The Search of Lost Time,” where childhood memories flood back to the author after eating a madeleine cookie dipped in tea.