By Katie Makepeace – 2014
Something about Silva’s Gallery was making me nostalgic.
I wandered through the beautiful pottery and fabric art displays until I came to a back room full of knitting supplies and stumbled across a lone basket of soaps. The soaps looked almost edible and delicious, each with earthy, muted colors of green and creamy beige. On closer inspection, I saw that they were packed with natural oatmeal and flowers.
Waves of comfort washed over me as I lifted a lavender bar to my nose and I finally placed the source of my nostalgia: the lavender reminded me of a lotion that my older sister bought for me when I was young. I reminisced about that gift with the shop-owner, and she bitter sweetly mentioned a woman who also recently bought one of these soaps. The aroma reminded the woman of her husband who had recently passed; it apparently smelled just like him.
The soap’s ingredients came naturally, as did my nostalgia.