Yes I Have Been, and I Still Am

It's weird how close the senses of smell and taste are. I swear that on many occasions things taste the same way that other things smell to me. For instance, last week I bought a new tube of toothpaste. It was a familiar brand, but a whole new formula that promises to fix every ill your teeth could possibly encounter. The minute I shoved the toothbrush into my mouth with the new toothpaste on it, I recognized the flavor. It was very familiar to me. The toothpaste tasted exactly the same way that Ben-Gay smells. I did a quick brush, rinse, and spit, but I couldn't get that taste out of my mouth. I have never had a mouthful of Ben-Gay, but I seem to know what it would taste like, and it tastes disgusting. This experience then reminded me of a chilly morning at my mom's house a few years ago. Mark and I spent the night at Mom's, and early the next morning Mark woke me up.

"What's that smell?"

"Humph, wha... huh?"

"That smell. Do you smell it? It's kind of minty but not minty at the same time."

"Smell, minty?"

I was now awake, and as my senses slowly came about, I did smell something.

"Oh yeah, now I smell it. Sniff, sniff, I think that's Ben-Gay."

Sure enough, I got up, put some clothes on, and when I walked out to the family room there was my mom with a giant tube of Ben-Gay, slathering it on every joint and muscle. Now, as I get older and every joint and muscle in my body has started to ache and hurt, I realize why my mom would go through that every day. This all made me curious. I wanted to know if Ben-Gay had an odorless product, so I went on the Ben-Gay web site and I learned two things. First, I've been spelling Ben-Gay wrong through this whole post. It's now spelled like this, BENGAY^® , all caps and no dash. Secondly, they now have a product called Vanishing Scent BENGAY^® . The stink is still there, but before you can figure out what the hell smells, it will vanish. Hmmm...  Mom's birthday is coming up in a few weeks.