A World Of Possibilities

Happy Short Work Week Cyberspace. I went to my cousin's first Motocross race over the weekend...he did very well. My biggest complaint is that I chose to wear white shoes, which are now victims of the red dust of the track. Looking at them this morning got me thinking about colours and their impact on our world.

“What’s your favourite colour Daddy?”

My daughter asks this question at least once a month. My answer is always the same – orange and blue, but I like ‘em all. I can never answer the inevitable why that follows.

It’s strange, the power that colour holds. Orange transports me back to sitting on my couch as a kid watching Michealangelo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles…we’ve had many great times together. Blue takes me back to Grade 4, when I moved to Eastern Passage and lived next to the ocean for the first time – I can still remember the peaceful, soothing crash of the waves against the shore. The yellow walls in my Grandmother’s kitchen come into focus in my mind’s eye whenever I smell fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. Pink reminds me of the fuzzy blanket that my little girl was wrapped up in the first time I ever held her in my arms. We all see things differently and every colour means something different to each and every one of us.

The colours that we decide to be surrounded by say a lot about us as individuals. There is nothing as unique as the colour scheme of your home. I chose mine to speak for me – you can do the same. They can say “Hello world! Welcome to my home!” or they can say “This is the quiet room.”

We all use colour to reflect our mood, our personality and ultimately ourselves. My daughter, for example, chose her own clothes to wear to school today – everything was purple. I asked her why and she replied “I don’t know – I just feel purple today.” And who could argue with that?

I guess what I’m trying to say is that colour is as unique as you or I. You may choose to spend your vacation cooking under the sun on a white sandy beach…I may spend mine going on an African safari. You may choose a white vanity to go along with light blue paint for your bathroom, while I would be more inclined to use orange on the walls with a black vanity. It depends on you…what you like, what you want and what you need.

Colour has had so much impact on me. It has enhanced and defined some of the major events in my life. The birth of my daughter, my time in the desert, recuperating from a smashed pelvis in a hospital bed -   the colours have told me a story…the colours have told my story. Pick your narrator…it’s time for your  next chapter.