Our senses can be excellent memory triggers.  The sense of smell is reputed to be the one that can trigger the most powerful & vivid ones, which I can easily agree with.  Musty cellars, certain smoky perfumes like frankincense and myrrh, or the sweet fragrance of lilacs weave their magic in my subconscious and I’m transported back in time to my early childhood in Queens or to some locale in the Danbury area.

After tasting a NewTree granola chocolate bar with cocoa, lime, & green tea, I’ve discovered that the sense of taste can be just as potent a reminder of events long forgotten.  It happens that my youngest daughter and I have birthdays about two and a half weeks apart and on a gift card spending spree, she opted to buy this candy bar rather than keep a gift card with only 45 cents on it. On the ride back to the house, she slipped me a bite of it to taste.

Imagine my surprise when the tea and lime flavorings in this bit of chocolate prompted an unbidden memory of my first drive (with his father) to the home of an old boyfriend, during which I got to sample some iced tea Mike’s mom had made and flavored with lime.  That trip was in the spring of 1981 and certainly I thought long since forgotten!  His dad has been deceased for more than a year, and I hadn’t seen his parents since my freshman year of college.  Yet there I was driving through Sumter, easily picturing the rural central Connecticut scenery I’d never before seen at the time, and almost hearing Dad Schaefer telling me how this combination came to pass (running out of lemons and Mike's mom making the substitution).

If I had to retrace that route from Cheshire to Chester today, I’d need either a GPS or to talk with Mike on my cell phone to guide me along Route 70 to whatever other roads lead to Route 148!  Who’d have thought a nibble of candy could unearth such ancient stuff?