I’ve been taking time this week to smell the roses. I bend over in my neighbors’ front yard, check that nobody is watching, then bury my head in the flowers.

I’ve also been walking into bakeries and walking around without buying anything.

After having surgery on my broken nose 18 months ago, I haven’t been able to smell or taste things. This week, however, my nose is back in business.

I’ve been fascinated by smells, and it’s given me a new way of thinking. Smell is just one of the little bits and pieces that make life enjoyable, but which we often ignore. I remember once, when my son was 5 months old, I was carrying him down the street. Wind swept through and almost tipped us over. He threw his little head back and giggled (傻笑). He’d never felt the wind on his face. When is the last time I laughed at the weather?

The first time I ate bacon, I rushed home to my parents, determined that we ate this deliciousness at every meal. My father smiled and agreed.

Do you recall when you learned that the voice actors of Mickey and Minnie Mouse were married in real life? Do you enjoy sleeping in new, clean bed sheets?

We don’t write postcards about the small things. We don’t frame them in photographs.

They aren’t that great or grand, but without them, life is altogether too loud. These quiet experiences give us a chance to enjoy the simple fact of being alive.

As my sense of smell returns to me, it’s like I’m smelling things for the first time. They’re full of memories and magic. Food tastes better, and the air is indeed sweet. I know what the poets mean now. It almost makes my broken nose worthwhile. Now, I am waiting for this bandage to come off. There’s an itch (痒) I can’t reach!

As a first responder, you never know what type of situation you might walk into, or who you’ll meet along the way. That’s definitely been the case for Jeffrey Lanenberg, a 51-year-old paramedic(急救医务人员) since 1984.

Ten years into the job, Lanenberg received a call that reported that a man in his early 30s had fallen down in the Mall of America. When Lanenberg and his partner arrived at the scene, they found the young male face down on the ground. He had gone unconscious, making weak attempts to breathe. His wife stood beside him holding their small son in horror. They quickly rushed to defibrillate(除颤) and calm the man to keep him under control. After Lanenberg dropped the patient off at the neighboring hospital, he thought about the man and his family for a long time.

Lanenberg thought he had experienced everything under the sun until one random visit to Office Max three years ago, where he met a man repeatedly walk back and forth while staring at him. As it turned out, the man was the patient he had saved 20 years earlier.

＂You gave me 20 years more than I ever thought I’d have,＂ the man said. He thanked Lanenberg repeatedly and told him he had someone he wanted him to meet. He stepped around the corner and reappeared with a 20-something-year-old man. Lanenberg instantly knew that it was the son he had seen standing by his mother all those years ago.

＂That day changed my life,＂ Lanenberg said. ＂Before that, everything was about work…When I talk to my beginner-training class, I tell them you never know the impact you can have on someone’s life.＂