Apr 26: Perfume Air

Open the door. Now take a sniff of the outside air here in South Florida. Chances are  good that you'll pick up a distinct, very pleasant aroma. The sea. The Atlantic Ocean perfumes the breezes all around Greater Fort Lauderdale, often miles inland. Sometimes I wonder how many people stop to notice this, whether residents or tourists. The salt air is such a pervasive presence in our area of the world that you easily can take it for granted. But not me. I notice it all the time - and when I do, I often inhale deeply to drink it in. To my mind, this saltiness is among the many charms of life along the Florida coast. It's a frequent reminder about where we are, our nearness to one of the planet's great wonders.

Ah, the sea. It is a big reason why Fort Lauderdale attracts so many visitors from all around the world each year, of course. Our warm ocean currents, our clean, lovely beaches and the sunshine that washes over the sand during all 12 months. The Atlantic made Fort Lauderdale what it is.

But after living here for more than two decades now, I'm still amazed by our distinctly perfumed air. You need not be near the seashore to enjoy the sea. Just take a good breath. Smell that? There's a special tang to the ocean breeze, almost a gentle bite to it, invigorating but soothing. It's nature's own aromatherapy. These days, I live in Dania Beach within one mile of the coast. I sit on my patio and, more often than not, can smell the ocean as strongly as if I were camped on the beach. Immediately before moving to Dania, I rented a Fort Lauderdale house that was maybe two miles or so from the ocean as the crow flies. There too I could sniff the salt. But even that far inland isn't the limit of our salt-scented air. During my marriage, we owned a home in Oakland Park - east side, yes, but still a few miles from the shoreline. When the wind was right, my nose could very clearly detect the same aroma there. Oddly enough, I don't regard myself as the owner of the finest sniffer around either. Hey, my nose does ok, I guess, but I'm just saying that I know people whose sense of smell seems much more sensitive than mine. I'm not smelling the ocean because I possess some kind of supernose. I'm smelling it because the ocean is there, in our wind. It's a beautiful thing, really. Sometimes when I feel stressed, I just close my eyes and inhale and allow that fresh, clean scent to carry me away for a moment. And for that instant, my worries are gone. Oh yes, I'm at the sea.