townhouse memories

When we first came to the US (as far back as I can remember, anyway), my parents and I shared a townhouse near GMU with a couple of other Taiwanese grad students. I must've been 4 or 5 then. We were in a basement room first, but then moved to a largeish corner room on the second level that faced the street and had its own bathroom.

I think we got that room b/c my parents were the only couple who had a kid. It wasn't weird or anything, since in Taiwan it's pretty common to sleep in the same room with your entire family (at least it was for mine). I was actually a little bit afraid of sleeping in a room by myself until fairly late in elementary school. In Taiwan, my parents had what is like a little studio apartment at my paternal grandparents' home, so we all slept in the same bed (or my dad would sleep on the floor). At my maternal grandparents' home, I always slept with my grandmother in her room. I guess it wasn't as common to have beds then, b/c we always pulled blankets down and spread them on the hardwood floor. She still slept like that until just a year or two ago when she broke her leg and couldn't climb the stairs anymore. They've put beds (very hard beds) in the other bedrooms though.

I remember the townhouse room as being pretty big, with my parents' full size mattress on the floor against one wall, my little twin bed in another corner. My mom also put two big pillows next to my bed in case I rolled off, which did happen once or twice. I once woke up with my head on the air vent b/c I had rolled off both bed and pillows.

The bathroom was small though, and I remember being afraid of flushing the toilet (very loud) and brushing my teeth (disgusting "strawberry" flavored toothbrush that made me want to gag). But mostly I remember the smells of the bathroom after a shower: the warm, wet smell of steam; sharpness of soap and, sometimes, bubble bath; faintly sweet smell of lotion. The drier climate of Virginia made all of us rabid lotion users, and I still keep an eye out for any miracle cream that claims to quench my dry skin woes. My brother and I had really bad eczema as kids; I learned to sleep with my limbs straight out b/c if I slept curled up, in the morning, when I unfurled, the creases in my arms and the backs of my knees would crack open and bleed. My brother more or less manned up through it (which means he's got a fine collection of scars).

So anyway, I remember the smell of lotion and showers as associated with that cozy, blurry time when it was just the three of us living in one room together, when my dad was still a student and I hadn't started school in the US yet.

I was feeling nostalgic and homesick a while back, so I went out and bought a bottle of Vaseline lotion and a little blue tub of Nivea creme. It doesn't smell quite the same though. Maybe they don't use the same fragrance as they did 20 years ago. Maybe you can't bottle up the smell of your parents, ages 30 and 33. But sometimes, when I put Nivea on my face and smooth Vaseline lotion on my arms after a shower, it will smell just right for half a second and I'm 4 years old again.