Color Stories

In elementary school I loved yellow. It spoke happiness and light to me. When I moved to a house with a huge new bedroom, I chose yellow for those expansive 10 foot walls and for my new bedspread.

As a teenager I decided I was more drawn to purple. I distinctly remember thinking (are you ready for this drama?) how purple was more suited to the color of love than just red alone. Even then I was aware that love was red, but always with a little blue mixed in. I've hung on to that favorite for years with less teenage angst in my reasoning, but more just a genuine preference for pretty purples. My mom wraps my birthday packages in purple. Lee makes sure there's always some in the bouquets he brings me. Liza chooses purple whenever she's drawing with me in mind.

Lately though, I'm more drawn to turquoisey blues. I can't really explain this change except I'm feeling like I'm in a period of evolution, little shifts are happening inside me and as I grow, I'm ready for a new color. Whenever I go for the blues now, Liza looks confused, and reminds me that really it's purple I'm looking for. Guess it's going to take a while to make this change ;-)

I asked my sister what her favorite color was last night. Here's her texted answer, "Sorry. I honestly have no idea what my favorite color is. That should go on a list somewhere. I still tend towards earthy, but with the current state of heat, I'm not as thrilled with orange right now. Blues and greens seem better at the moment. How's that for convoluted?" So Gini's preferences are changing with the weather...at least at the moment!

Liza's color story begins with orange. Whenever somebody would ask her to choose, she immediately went for orange, much to most people's surprise. I love that she's always been sure of her choice. Aunt Gibi loves that they share an orangey love. It seems though that a new chapter has begun and currently she's in a hot pink phase. I believe this was prompted by a favorite book and the beginning of school. There are 3 other girls in her class who all love pink and Hannah, the main character in her book, is exuberant in her choice of everything hot pink.

All this has left me wondering why we choose the colors we do, and what keeps us loyal or what changes our minds. Is it clothing? Or weather? Books? Friends? Or how our thoughts and feelings evolve over the course of our lives?

Tell me. What's your color story?