My mom hated perfume.  She said it gave her a headache.  But really, I think it was the combination of ALL the perfumes mixing and swirling around the car following a shopping trip that was truly the culprit.  You see, my grandma – she loved perfume.  As a kid, I spent many Saturdays hunting for deals at a local mall with my mom, my grandma and my younger sister.  Whether it was Appleton or Madison, Green Bay or Sheboygan, we would spend an entire day hunting for treasures, sharing slices of Sbarro pizza at the food court, sometimes even going to see a movie (or two, if we were able to sneak into another theater undetected).  It wasn’t ever because we really needed anything, but more of a sport or a hobby – trying to see what great deals or treasures we could score. 

We would always park near one of the anchor department stores – usually Marshall Field’s, and when we walked past the makeup and perfume counters, my grandma would happily pick up any samples she could get her hands on.  Many times, these were sprayed on fancy cards that displayed the designer name and scent.  But sometimes, when we were very lucky, the cards would have a very tiny vile of the perfume attached to them.  And the salespeople loved my grandma, as she asked about new scents and picked up the bottles from the counter to try them out.  My mom would drag us out of the perfume department but it was usually too late.  We were already doused with Dior and Calvin Klein and Estee Lauder scents that all mixed and blended together.  Now, if this were early in the trip and we had time to “air out” we were sometimes okay, but if we managed to navigate back through the perfume department on our way to the car, picking up more treasured samples, it was sure to be a smelly ride home.  My mom shooting daggers from her eyes as she cracked her window, even when the temperatures were frigid.  To this day, she doesn’t wear perfume, and neither do I.  But I can’t help but pick up those cards with the samples and think of my grandma anytime I walk past the perfume counters.