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Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Passing the Smell Test

 


I thought I had COVID last week. My little dog, Ollie, and I sat down like we do most mornings to meditate, pray, and journal together. Buddy comes, too; he usually sits with us for just a few minutes before wandering off for some alone time. But Ollie lies right next to me in the big, comfy chair until meditation time with Oprah ends and he hears me say, “Namaste,” at which time he will sit up, stretch his little neck, and hop off the chair. Look how cute.




My quiet mornings with my sweet dogs and a cup of coffee are some of my favorite things in the whole world. My sister also bought me a Nespresso Aeroccino milk frother for Christmas this year which turns my Barista Style Oatley into a sweet crown of Heaven atop my perfect cup of Good Morning Sunshine.




But this day, as I sat down and took my first sip of coffee, it tasted like water. DO I HAVE COVID? I whiffed it deeply. Does it smell like coffee? Or have I been smelling it already so I can’t smell it? I worked myself into a panic fairly quickly. Am I feverish? Or is that a hot flash? Does my head hurt? Maybe it hurts! Ohmygosh, it TOTALLY HURTS! How about my throat? *cough* Is that a new or worsening cough?? Can I breathe?? I CAN’T BREATHE!




I sniffed the coffee again, but I definitely couldn’t smell it. What else is smellable? I looked at my sweet Ollie lying next to me getting ready for meditation time and took a deep whiff.




Ollie has a certain smell. He doesn’t smell like a dog. Ollie has kind of a mild sweet and fluffy smell. I sniffed the top of his head, but still wasn’t certain of my COVID diagnosis, so I picked up one of his little paws and sniffed. You see, Ollie’s paws smell like popcorn.

I learned this about a year after Ollie arrived at our house. Chris was sitting with Ollie on the sofa and sniffing his little paws. This was not unusual behavior for Chris. Chris and my little brother smell things, like they pick up things and sniff them and then put them back down. If I hadn’t grown up watching my brother sniff random things, I might think there was something not-quite-right about my second son.

Knickknacks from other people’s houses, specific rocks (not all rocks, of course!), pieces of paper. One of these days, I’m going to delve deeper into how these guys deem an item sniff-worthy. It’s not like they are just picking up things to sniff all day long. That would be weird.

So Chris and Ollie are having an intimate moment on the couch and it made me laugh. They looked so cute, and it reminded me of the way I used to sit with Chris and smell his fat, little baby feet. Then Chris said, “Ollie’s feet smell like popcorn.




I considered that Chris might be trying to trick me, but it turns out to be totally true. Our little dog has popcorn feet. Know what else? At least a half dozen of my friends confirmed that THEIR dogs’ paws also smell like popcorn, Doritos, or Fritos.




"My friends always said doggy paws smell like Doritos. haha so weird"

"My son told me this, too."

"I think Fritos lol"

"So the secret ingredient in popcorn or Doritos is....Doggy toe jam?" 

"Kirk always says Tani's feet smell like Fritos."

"I was noticing just last night that Chloe smelled like Doritos. No joke."

 
In our meditation chair, Ollie’s little foot smelled exactly like a movie theater, so I was pretty confident that I didn’t have COVID.




When Albert got home later that evening, he asked, “Did the coffee taste OK this morning?




You see, Albert had an early meeting that morning, so he poured himself a to-go cup of coffee before it had finished brewing. “It was SO STRONG, so I worried that the coffee might not have tasted very good for you.




I hope your dog’s feet smell like something delicious AND that you don’t have COVID.

Thank you for reading!


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