The Scientist and the Dreamer
The Scientist and the Dreamer
I love the smell of freshly cut grass. And I hate it. The smell reminds me of springtime, and it tickles my nose and triggers my allergies.
Similarly, I love/hate the smell after it rains. There was a sudden and brief hailstorm last Saturday morning, likely a welcome thing during the ongoing fire season. Mini Me and I went for a stroll in the afternoon and I was enjoying the fresh after-the-rain plus seaside scent to the air.
Mini Me then proceeded to tell me about WHY the air has a certain smell after it rains (called petrichor, per Mini Me). Apparently plants have certain oils and when it rains, those oils are washed off and released into the air.
Does it make it less romantic to think of the after-rain smell in this way?
For me, no. I’m a dreamer, but I’m also a scientist. I love hearing Mini Me talk about things like this. And I also credit it to her dad, Mr. Bookworm, because this is how his mind thinks too.
We then talked about the Magnolia flowers that we saw on the trees and I told her this story:
One day Grandpapa came running into the house trying to gather Grandmommy (or all of us). He kept mumbling under his breath about the ‘Lissa flower’. He finally got Grandmommy to go outside to the new-ish Magnolia tree to show her its very first bloom, which he lovingly called the Lissa flower.
[Lissa is NOT my mom’s given name, but it is what he calls her.]
And then I explained that Grandpapa can be a bit of a romantic while Grandmommy most certainly is NOT. In fact, I sent her pictures of the flower and she didn’t remember the story behind it. I had to remind it to her.
But was this how it really happened? Or did my storyteller brain change it all around?
I guess we’ll never know.
But the dreamer and romantic in me believes in this story.
Please note that it’s National Novel Writing month. So even though I’m behind in posting on the blog, I’ve decided to just do short posts this month so I can focus on my novel.
Are you more of a scientist or a dreamer?
