My Superpower

My nose.  I can smell it. What is “it” you ask?  Exactly.

It all started with my first pregnancy, and not in a good way. Many pregnant women experience this same phenomenon.  The smell of meat cooking would instantly turn me off from eating and I was a self-made vegetarian for a few months.  Cooking chicken, or bacon....ewwww. But, my superpower was not just an annoying aversion to smells.  It was also an asset.

 “Ian, the noodles smell done.”

The NOODLES?  Yes, I can smell when the noodles are done.  

Which is awesome.

While pondering my smelling experiences a few years back, I flashed back on all the smells that came to me so strongly, just when I needed them to.  The fresh bread baking at the LDS institute building in Las Cruces, at just the right moment.  The sour rag that needed washing that was sitting in the sink.  The unmistakable scent of an overheated laptop resting on the pillow on my lap. The aroma of an opened can of Strawberry soda wafting from my husband’s hands.  I realized, with the epiphatonic strength of a thousand radioactive spiders, that I had a superpower.  For some reason, the strong sense of smell never really went away once I was no longer pregnant. The power had awakened. In the words of Adrian Monk, a favorite fictional TV detective with OCD, “It's a blessing, and a curse.”

The superpower of smell.

I can smell a dirty diaper from anywhere in my house, and I can change it. 

I can smell the rotting vegetables in my refrigerator, and get rid of those bacterial infested perishables. When I am walking around the zoo, I can smell a smoking cigarette from 200 feet.  Then, I can yell at the perpetrator from the same distance to put that dang thing out.  If they don’t cease cigaretting, I can speed dial zoo security.  I know what my super power is and I’m not afraid to use it.

Watch out stinky villains of the world.  I'm on to you.