Mysterious Aroma

While honeymooning on Kauai, Xee and I noticed that the air sometimes smelled like chili peppers. We figured it had to be a plant we were smelling. We asked around all week long, and none of the locals had an explanation for it. Some of them looked at us quite strangely. We smelled it! We knew we did.

We have been to Hawaii on several occasions prior to our move here and noticed a faint chili smell on those trips as well. And now that we live here, we might be driving down the road on our golf cart (yes, we have a golf cart) or going for a walk, when the aroma suddenly hits us...a fragrance reminiscent of our honeymoon, when our love affair with the islands first began.

The other day I was walking down the hall in our home and there it was...that smell. I walked into the bathroom and it got much stronger. Glancing around, my eyes fell upon the flowers I had placed in a little cup a few days before. One of my favorites, called Tiare. They are small, sweet-smelling white flowers, and it only takes a couple to freshen up an entire room.

Now these flowers were several days old and had withered. I brought my nose closer and took a big whiff....chili! Hmm...So my favorite sweet flower is actually sweet and spicy. Xee came home later and I brought him the dead flowers and said, "Hey honey, smell this." He looked at me like he always does when I say that. "No, seriously ...c'mon...smell it!"

"Chili!"

Exactly. Chili. Mystery solved. Ten years of wondering. Ten years! Now suddenly I had the answer. And you know, as exciting as it was to make the discovery, part of me is glad and the other is a wee bit sorry I found out. Somehow the not-knowing brings a sense of wonder to the unexplained. Oh well. The world is full of mystery. Time to go out and find a new one.