She has a nose for experiencing life

Re the Aug. 20 article on congenital anosmia [“Hey, There’s No Sense Missing What You Can’t Smell”], Karen Ravn described everything that I have gone through and everything that I have said to others to describe my condition.

I have suffered from congenital anosmia my entire life. I always wondered why things never smelled as good to me as they did to others. I finally got my answer when I went to a doctor at the age of 11 and they gave me a smell test. That’s how they determined that I was special.

As I grew older, I had to pay attention to my surroundings and count on others to smell items such as food and clothing for me. I also pay attention to the expiration dates on food.

I, too, base what I eat on color and texture. Something like a tomato is just disgusting to me since it is slimy and red.

I have never really had bad experiences suffering from this, just one scary one. I was home alone and I had a really bad headache. My friend came over to see how I was doing and she told me that my house smelled like gas. It turns out that there was a gas leak outside my house.

I purchased a natural-gas detector and feel much more safe with it in my home.

Since I can’t stop and smell the roses, I tell others to do so, and to enjoy life -- but to include me. Just because I am different doesn’t mean that I should be left out of experiences. Should that happen, I will simply drive my friends through Corona and lock my windows down and let them smell the sweetness of the cow manure -- my sweet revenge.

Christina Lisa Grosman

Anaheim