Chanel(ing) my Mom

Everyone’s mom smells like something. Grandmas do too. My mom smelled like Chanel No. 5.

She didn’t smell like that every day, of course. Only when she and my father went out, or had friends over, for one of their swanky dinner parties. Some of my earliest memories are of my parent's parties back in New York.

For as long as I can remember there was only one scent mom wore… Chanel No. 5. I didn’t particularly like how it smelled, especially when I was younger; it can be overpowering. But as I began to grow older, and undeniably more and more like my mother, I became somewhat obsessed with this fine French perfume. It wasn’t about the smell for me… it was what it represented. And, I guess, who.

I coveted my mom’s bottle of Chanel when she passed away. And sometimes, when I’m missing her so badly I can’t breathe, I put a dab of her perfume on my wrist and it calms me.

I’ve always, for my adult life at least, wanted something Chanel of my own. But I’d never ask for it. It just didn’t seem right and I couldn’t really put my finger on why.

Then, a few months before Christmas, I saw this post on my mom’s neighbor… and now my friend… John’s Facebook page. John is a wood-turner and creates the most beautiful and thoughtful pieces. Read the comments section on his post and you’ll see where this is going.

I had also coveted a piece of Sycamore wood, from a tree felled by a nasty storm, in Mike’s dad, and wife Dolores’s, front yard last fall. I’d been looking for something special to do for Mike and the kids since Pops died… something personal.

When that tree was being cut up and hauled away, at the exact time I showed up in Great Bend Kansas to help Dee with a project, I knew I needed a piece of it to take to John. He made three “Finders-Keepers Penney Jars’ for them… which we adore!

And he made this perfume pen for me.

How the perfume pen works is, you dip the wick, for a lack of a better term, in the perfume and it absorbs up into it.  I didn’t want to bring mom’s whole bottle of Chanel No. 5 to Beijing with me… I can’t risk something happening to it. So this is perfect; I dipped it right in and now I have her favorite scent, and some of my best memories, right here in China with me!

Today I went to the Pearl Market with my new pals Shelby and Bianca. This market, like most all the others, sells everything imaginable! I bought a lovely silk table runner and a few other textiles, to spruce up the apartment which is in dire need of a pop of color. We meandered though several other shops and bought a few trinkets from them as well.

But then we stumbled upon this… Chanel nirvana!

I am home now, Chanel(ing) my inner mama and all of a sudden I get it; Chanel was my moms. It was part of her identity… at least to me… and I had no right to it. And, because she left us so suddenly and unexpectedly, we were never given the opportunity to divvy up her legacy between those she left behind. But I’m quite certain she’s saying this tonight:

Chrissy gets Chanel.

I can only hope I wear it as well as she did; I love you mama!