Friday Freewrite: Freshly Mowed Grass and Raindrops

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The first time I smelled the earthy scent of freshly mowed grass after a long and cold and white Winter was so … refreshing. Not only does that mean that Spring is booting Winter right out of the door, but it means that things are starting to live again.

I was driving home from classes on a particularly warm March afternoon. My classes had really taken it out of me that day, and I needed some fresh air in my lungs after sitting in dark and claustrophobia inducing classrooms. I took the scenic route home, driving on the country roads that led out of Anderson and into corn fields that went on as far as you could see. I had the windows rolled all the way down and the whirl wind of air made my hair fly around my face. Sometimes, the strands would hit me in the face and it would sting, but I wasn’t letting that bring me down. I had the music blasting and I was singing (badly) along with the lyrics.

It was in the middle of Ed Sheeran’s “Galway Girl” when the smell hit me. Because of the music, I didn’t hear the loud mower, but I could definitely smell the lush scent of the grass. I can’t explain what freshly mowed grass smells like, but it’s a universal scent. It just smells green and Earthy. It’s the smell of a childhood Spring afternoon, romping through the dandelions, spreading the white fluff into the breeze.

And then it starts to rain, and my focus is pulled from the scent of the grass to the feeling of cold sprinkles on my forearm. I don’t roll up the windows. It’s not raining hard enough to be inconvenient, but instead I relish in the feeling of a thin sheet of rain on collecting on my arm. If I weren’t driving, I would have closed my eyes and breathed in the scent of the rain and the grass. Along with the coming of Spring after Winter, I was become more alive. The feeling of the chilled rain and the smell of Earthy waking up after a long hibernation with bring me back to life. A smile spread its way across my face. Because after all, there is nothing more relaxing than the scent of freshly mowed grass and raindrops.