After Last Weeks Storms, What's That Scent in the Air?

Brookfield is a town that I have called home for years. I raised my two boys here. They both graduated from the elementary schools and Brookfield High School. It is also the place where I broadcast from every day. I have loved this town for a long, long time.

Complete Coverage of the Recent Storm Devastation Here

We have weathered many storms here at the radio stations, but what happened last Tuesday, May 15, was very different. We went from a regular afternoon of music for the drive home to full-on Storm Central in the blink of an eye. From the studio window, the sky went black, the rain come teaming down and the wind was gusting with such force that it blew our radio station's sign down to the ground.

Photo- Linda Guerrera

A fresh path was cut out of the landscape along Route 7 and many other tree-filled areas. New piles of trees that have been cut up and stacked alongside many roads. That new whirring sound of teams of Eversource and tree maintenance trucks. A new sense of anxiety of how it all happened so fast and so furiously.

I guess that all of those "new" things are to be expected when something like this happens. What I was so surprised at was the scent in the air. Driving home after the storm, you didn't have to see the power lines that were burning, that electrical scent was coming in through the dashboard vents as you tried to get home that evening. My 13 minute commute took almost two hours.

This afternoon there was a fragrance of fresh cut wood, no doubt from the crews clearing all of the downed trees. Tonight, the air has the essence of a Yankee Candle. The one that you see in the stores around the holidays that makes your whole house smell like Christmas.

This extreme weather event also brought out some new scammers but on the flip side of that, it brought out the best. People helping people. Neighbors checking on neighbors. Fellow residents providing for others who lost power and more. Communities coming together to clear the mess and help each other out.

So much "new" that I wish we didn't know. I hope we never see this kind of new again. Like, ever!

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