I had a weird experience recently. My wife and I bought our granddaughter a Radio Flyer Red Tricycle and it came in a box unassembled. I took it out to the garage to pull all the pieces out and put it together.
I kept smelling something and it reminded me of when I was growing up. What I realized was that it smelled like smoke from cigarettes. I sniffed the instruction paper and it smelled like smoke from cigarettes.
I stuck my head in the box after I pulled all the parts out and it really stank of cigarette smoke. Kind of like that smell after cigarette smokers jacket gets wet and it's just that weird tobacco nicotine stained scent that's distinctive.
That reminded me a lot of my childhood and reminded me of home because that's what I grew up in. My parents both smoked and I grew up breathing their smoke. They didn't quit smoking until I was an adult and my wife and I had our first child.
We prayed for them to quit smoking for many years and we were so thankful when they did. We thanked God for answering our prayers when they stopped smoking when our first son was born.
But it was weird being reminded of home when I smelled the smell of cigarette smoke in a box from China.
