The Smell of Postum

Tonight I poured hot water over Pero drink powder and the smell drifted up immediately, exactly the smell of a different hot drink from my past: Postum. And Postum always reminds me of my grandparents.

When I was about 7, my grandparents spent a couple of summers living in our basement apartment in Springville. I loved to go downstairs first thing in the morning and have breakfast with them. And breakfast included postum. With a lot of sugar and milk, I really liked it - it was almost as good as chocolate milk (which didn't get very often but which I loved). Whenever I think of the taste of Postum, I also think of the taste of Grapenuts cereal and grapefruit, two other staples of my grandparents' breakfast table.

I love how a smell can bring back a host of memories and emotions.