Not too long ago I was sitting on the metro on my way home from work. A white-haired woman sat directly in front of me. Though I couldn't see her face, her fragile hands and small stature suggested that she was elderly. But her most striking characteristic was her scent.
She smelled of freshly cut roses.
I hope that when I am elderly I smell that good. I know the scent of roses is closely associated with older women, but there was something about her scent that was so beautiful, and not at all old. I hope that when I am her age I smell like roses instead of moth balls, Ben Gay, or even worse, body odor.
And so I sat there, lost in thoughts of my twilight years, imagining the woman in front of me going home to her cats and photos of grandchildren. But I stirred from my thoughts when the woman reached into her bag and pulled out a book. She flipped to her marked page and commenced reading, but not before I caught a glimpse of the title.
"It's a Guy Thing: How to Prevent Teen Pregnancy"
Poof. All of my preconceived notions of grandma disappeared instantly. For all I know, she'd just spent the day on Capitol Hill writing policy to decrease teen pregnancy. She was probably in the Presidential rose garden mulling over budgets and business plans, where she inadvertently bumped into a bush and picked up the scent of roses.
Washington is full of surprises.
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