No Idea What Roses Smell Like

I suffered a fractured skull as a child, and I believe that is where my smell was affected. I could smell certain things throughout my life — gasoline, peaches — but beginning in my mid-40s it faded. At 50, I now smell nothing at all.

I once saw an EMT who asked me how far into a room I would have to be to smell roses on the table, and I realized I had no idea what roses smell like. That was in my 30s, and the beginning of my realization that I have no sense of smell.

— Nicole, New Jersey