At the game, you’d hear the squeak of sneakers from a sudden stop, referee whistles, crowd cheers, music and much more. But, what captured me the most was the scent of the freshly varnished gymnasium floor.

Remember, besides being a former coach, I also grew up a high school coach’s son. My whole life has been surrounded by a variety of sports.

That varnished floor took me way back to my childhood getting to hang out with my dad. So, I ran through all the scents that brought me into a happy place. I missed the sun melting wet grass on the playing fields, the stench of chlorine from all the years of water polo, including the leather smell from the balls I used in a variety of sports.

Besides sport-related, what other scents bring you back to happy times? What about baby powder? We loved the innocence of soft baby skin as they smiled into our eyes.

How about all the crafty people? Do you walk in a lumber yard and get excited smelling the fresh cut pine boards? You know that you’re about to attempt building a master piece of a fence.

I love the scent of nurseries while picking out this year’s flowers, shrubs and soil.

I recently visited a friend’s mother’s house who was cooking homemade fried chicken. I fought back tears because it reminded me of all the wonderful memories of my late grandma Tepera.

Look, we all get bombarded with negative people and situations each day. It’s part of life that we must learn to accept and deal with. My only resolution to eliminating these factors is replacing them with happy thoughts. Now, I try to incorporate scents into these thoughts, plus it takes me to a higher level of happiness. I truly hope I’m making sense of scent. OK, corny joke.

Take a moment and really put some thought into the scents with the most wonderful memories. I promise, in a short time, the list will become endless.

So, take a deep breath, and realize what a wonderful life we truly possess. All you need is to open your mind and take in the scents of happiness