The Wall

I got hit by a wave today over something tiny and stupid. A smell. That’s it. A smell in the house that matched some memory I couldn’t even fully name before it was already in my chest. I think people underestimate sensory grief because it sounds too small to matter. But smell bypasses all the civilized bullshit and goes straight to the old wiring. For maybe ten seconds she was not a concept. She was a felt reality. Then gone again. That’s enough to ruin an afternoon.