What Color Was Your Day?

"The only truly magical and poetic exchanges that occur in this life occur between two people. Sometimes it doesn't get that far. Often, the true glory of existence is confined to individual consciousness. That's okay. Let us live for the beauty of our own reality."
Tom Robbins, "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues"

I noticed cactus plants quietly preparing to burst into bloom today.

When I had a small child, and I tucked her in at bedtime, we would often sum up our day for each other by answering the following question. What color was your day?

It started out simple and intuitive – my day was often blue because I hated my job. Hers was often green – especially on days she got to play outside at after-school day care.

After a while, we got all existential and symbolical. I’d have a day that was pastel blue shading into pink with shiny silver highlights. That meant there was a silver lining inside my professional rain cloud. I was going to law school, and was learning how to think straight. Hers was sometimes yellow with orange streaks and flecks of gold, a kind of impressionistic finger-painting representing a sunny day on the swings, but with a bully lurking at the bottom of the slide. She was growing in body and spirit and learning not to be intimidated by playground bullies.

The fun was explaining to one another how we arrived at specific combinations of colors, and what they signified. Yesterday, we had a preview of Spring: warm, sunny, temps in the middle 70F range. I went to an event at the garden where I volunteer. My day was pink and green, like the prickley pear and bearded cactus plants getting ready to burst into bloom.

It’s been years since I’ve summed up my day in terms of color. I should get back to that.