Fall-se Hopes

Fall is my favorite season hands down. The crisp smells of leaves and fireplaces make me giddy. In fact, when I was walking outside today I caught myself grinning like an idiot. I even let a little verbal "Oh!" escape my throat, after getting a particularly perfect whiff, before I could stop myself. Thank God I was the only one within earshot.

The sense of smell is so powerful. It's pretty well known that smells have a way of transporting us back to certain memories. I had a rather vivid moment the other day while sitting in Starbucks. I was killing time reading and enjoying a yummy Pumpkin Spice latte, while Rufus Wainwright sang over the speakers. Suddenly, a strange feeling washed over me. I felt exactly as I did 3 years ago when I moved here, when I would go down the street to my then neighborhood Starbucks to get a Pumpkin Spice latte while listening to Rufus Wainwright. At that time I was feeling lonely because I had just moved here, but also excited for what the future held. It really made me realize how much time has passed and how I've grown. It was really cool! I wanted the feeling to last, so I kept staring at a certain spot on the chair in front of me, until it faded about a minute later - the feeling, not the chair.

It made me wonder if we could use our senses to travel through time. I really thought I was on to something until I remembered a little movie called "Somewhere in Time." For those of you who don't know it, please do us all a favor and Netflix* it. SIT is a 1980 time travel romance, and it's just ridiculous in the best way. It was filmed on location at and around the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, MI. This made me feel extra cool as a kid because my family would go there in the summers, so I pretty much felt like I owned the movie.

The plot is basically this: in 1972, Christopher Reeve's character, Richard, is approached by an elderly woman who places a pocket watch in his hand while pleading with him to "come back" to her. Cut to eight years later, Reeve visits the Grand Hotel and is captivated by a photograph of a mysterious, beautiful young woman. Reeve discovers that she is Jane Seymour's character, Elise, a famous early 20th-century stage actress. As the mystery unfolds, he learns that she was the elderly woman who gave him the pocket watch.

Reeve is obsessed! He must go back in time to find her! So, of course, he learns about auto-suggestive time travel from an old college professor of his. To accomplish this feat of self-hypnosis, he must remove all things from sight that are related to the current time. After a few tries, his absolute faith allows him to journey back through time. He drifts off to sleep and awakens in the year 1912. The next 80 minutes are pure love story,

Spoiler alert!! Don't read the italics if you haven't seen the movie and are planning to!

The whole thing is ruined when he pulls a 1979 penny out of his pocket. The reminder thrusts him back into present time! What an idiot! He had one job to do: "remove all things from sight that are related to the current time," the professor couldn't have been more clear. Luckily he dies from a broken heart (or starvation, I never really figured it out) shortly after his return. Now he and Jane Seymour can be together forever, in a place beyond time itself. Gag... and sigh.

So, the real question here is: can I use the scent of my pumpkin spice latte to travel through time? Will I find my own Elise? Or Edwin, since I'm not into chicks? I'll keep trying, and will post my progress here. Can someone please start a fund to help me pay for all those lattes I'm gonna need? Those bitches are expensive!

Of course, let's not forget this is also the season of my birthday. October 10th for anyone who's keeping track. That also probably has something to do with my love for this time of year. Who doesn't love their birthday? A Dummy, that's who.

*with all the product placement in this entry, I better be getting a hefty check from - one more time - Starbucks and Netflix