I can't let go.

Have you ever caught the scent of your past?

Out of the blue, a very distinct and familiar scent drifts by your nostrils. At first, breathing shallowly and casually, you only catch it faintly. You puzzle over it, trying to pinpoint its origin in your memory.

Suddenly it hits you, and every piece of your previous life containing that scent floods into your mind. Your eyes well up and your heart swells, and you breathe in as sharply and deeply as you can to try and capture every molecule of that smell, every bit of that material evidence of your memories.

The scent dissolves into your blood and you dissolve into your past. You hold your breath, wishing you could hold it forever so that you wouldn't have to let that feeling go. But soon your lungs burn for fresh air, so you slowly and reluctantly exhale. Then you breathe in long and deep, hoping to be filled with that feeling once more...but the scent is gone. Your past is gone.

You have no choice but to let go. Until that next unexpected and fleeting moment when your past comes drifting lazily along on the soft breeze, the present and future are in control.