They say that smell is the strongest scent tied to memory. So it’s no wonder that I have a particular cologne that conjures up specific memories.

In March 2004, I went on a 10-day trip to Italy with the Cornerstone University Chorale. I had just bought a bottle of Lagerfeld, which I got hooked on when my college roommate knocked a bottle off a shelf onto the tiled floor. (It smashed behind one of our recliners and the room smelled like it for weeks.)

Anyway, I hadn’t used it in a long time until I bought that bottle before our trip. Now, every time I put some on, I’m mentally transported back to Italy. In particular, to the room I was staying in in Rome, where I remember hurriedly trying to change for a concert. We arrived in Rome in the late afternoon, and by the time we got our luggage, got to our bus, and got to where we were staying, we hardly had any time to change before we ran out to do a concert that same night. A couple other evenings were less hurried, but they all involved the smell of Lagerfeld, since that was the only cologne I brought along.

So now, every time I use it, I’m taken for a moment back to Rome. Ahhh… Rome!

Current music: Conversations With God, a Windham Hill Collection