Shoutout to the smell of rain on hot pavement

I was maybe four, sitting on our front step in Tulsa after a summer storm. The concrete was steaming and that wet dirt smell hit me so hard it felt like a color. I didn't know the word 'petrichor' then, but that moment is still my clearest early memory. Now every time it rains, I have to stop and just breathe it in for a second. Anyone else have a memory tied to a smell that just sticks with you?

4 comments

4 Comments

the_tyler2mo ago

I always thought it was the dirt too, but @the_lisa changed my mind about that smell.

taylor.reese2mo ago

Guess I've been wrong for years then. I just stand there breathing it in like it's some kind of earthy perfume. My whole life is a lie built on the smell of wet sidewalks.

the_lisa2mo ago

Actually, that's the smell of wet concrete, not dirt.

lewis.terry1mo ago

My buddy swears it smells like his grandma's garden.