Dial Pure and Natural Hand Soap

Have you ever heard about how the sense of smell has the strongest connection to memory? Like there are certain scents that just bring me back to my grandparents house, or if I smell someone wearing my grandpa's cologne I feel like he is hugging me. Well, tonight my liquid hand soap pump just ran out, so a grabbed a sliver of an old bar of soap that has been occupying an untouched soap dish for a few months now, and it transported me to a different time and place (who needs time machines anyway?). The soap was actually from the hotel that we stayed in when we went house hunting here and we used it for a few days before we got everything unpacked, but it was Dial Pure and Natural, and that is the same soap, but in liquid form that was in the hospital room where I lived with Ariel and newborn baby Annika for the scariest 5 days of my life. So, when I smelled it tonight a flood of memories came back to me, the uncertainty of everything and my world being turned upside down, and the realization that no matter how carefully you plan your life, you are not really in charge. All of the syringes and calm nurses and beeping and tubes, and craft projects, and the headaches from crying and not sleeping enough. But that was three years ago, and now she is just fine. I learned a lot more about medicine that I ever wanted to and discovered how to talk to doctors and how to advocate for my daughter, and how to be a good patient. I guess some of the most important life lessons are ones we don't sign up for.