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Losing Smell

I had Covid a few weeks ago and travel a long way back home after that. By now this is so common and routine that it goes without remark or attention. When I tested positive, my thoughts turned to people close to me that died of the same thing - just a year or so ago. It was not quite as mundane back then. It was sobering to consider how much timing mattered in life.

 Loss of smell and taste to the point of nothingness was deeply unsettling for me until once again I recalled the deaths of loved ones. I also recalled my former co-worker M who was got Covid in the early days and has yet to recover her sense of smell. That is well over two years now and she has learned to make peace and live with a handicap. I was close to losing my mind in days. 

After things turned to normal, I am trying harder than ever to be grateful for all that went well for me - not being forced to put myself in harm's way, having the ability to work from home, being able to recover without much difficulty, being able to smell once again, being alive. I also realized how integral smell is to quality of life. 

The world turns inanimate and unresponsive without this dimension. For those few days when I did not have any sense of smell, I would try to re-construct the smell of my favorite perfume on my wrist. The brain seemed to have a way to get me very close to the finish line through memory and imagination but it was always a bit short. 

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