Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Visit By Grampa

Sunday night, I was in the throes of a migraine.  I was reaching the end of my bag of tricks to deal with it.  I had taken meds.  A hot hot shower.  Silence.  Complete darkness.  Head and neck massage.  Nothing was working.

The last weapon in my arsenal was deep breathing and visualization.  I breathe in through my nose.  As I exhale through my mouth, I visualize stress, tension, and pain leaving each body part.  I start with my toes and work my way up.  Slowly, ever so slowly.  If one part doesn't want to relax, I will inhale/exhale several times while concentrating on that spot.

I had worked up to my abdomen and switched over to my fingers to work up my arms.  And as I inhaled, I caught a scent.  Faint.  Sweet.  And vaguely familiar.  I moved to my wrists and inhaled again.  There was the scent - stronger this time.  So sweet and so familiar.  A comforting scent.  I could feel a sense of peace creeping in.  As I moved to my forearms and inhaled once again, I recognized that sweet sweet scent.

My Grampa died the day after my third birthday so my memories of him are vague and shadowy.  Grampa was a smoker and he rolled his own cigarettes.  I was always given the important job of blowing out his match.  The scent was my Grampa's tobacco.

Was it a dream?  Probably.  But the scent was so strong, so distinct that when I opened my eyes, I fully expected to see my Grampa sitting on my sofa, rolling a cigarette.

As soon as I opened my eyes, the scent was gone.  But the sense of peace, the sense of safety and comfort that I always felt while sitting on his lap blowing out his match, remained.  And it helped the pain ease enough for me to get some rest.

Thank you, Grampa.  I still miss blowing out your matches.

5 comments:

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

What type of meds did you take? There is one migraine med that I have taken that makes me have weird childhood flashbacks - I remembered toys I hadn't thought of in years. Really strange side effect. I think the one that did that was called Maxalt.

One thing I've found that really helps (odd as it sounds) is rubbing peppermint essential oil on the soles of my feet (sometimes I also rub it on my temples). I read about it online, and wouldn't you know - it really does work!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Ahhh---aren't memories just special? I'm sure that your Grandpa was sitting beside you then --even though his body wasn't there... Those 'angels' around us really do try to take good care of us!!!!!

Hope his presence helped your migraine. Those kind of headaches are the WORST.... Hope you don't get them often. My brother used to have them... NO FUN.

Hugs,
Betsy

Unknown said...

Love this post...except for the migraine.
Sometimes a get a scent, real or imaginative and it revives a memory from my childhood that I want to linger on forever. Magical moments!!

George said...

I'm glad your Grandpa was able to bring you some peace and rest. Memories are both wonderful and powerful.

Busy Bee Suz said...

Your Grandpa was trying to help you. I love how smells can take us to another time and place. I hope your brain is feeling better.
XOXO