RED

 

I recently spent a weekend sorting through my fabric bins. Grays in one pile, purple in another, low volume over there, blue over here, with sub-categories of turquoise, aqua, navy, periwinkle, and, well, blue. Same with the greens. Chartreuse, lime, emerald, mint, grass. Purples (lavender, fuchsia, grape, raspberry sorbet). Oranges that look so fabulous with blues and greens. Finally, red was divided into pinks and red. That's it. No other sub-categories. No brick and cherry and pomegranate and merlot. Just a very small pile. Obviously, I don't own a lot of red fabric. I don't tend to gravitate towards it in stores, I'm not sure I own any red clothes - well, a tee-shirt, maybe. Not much else.

When I think of the colours that I normally surround myself with, it is generally blues and greens of varying shades. Colours of the beach, of the Ireland, of the forest, of wine bottles, of leafy green vegetables, blue cheese and even Fresca. I wear green and blue almost every day from my jewelry to my reading glasses to my clothes. It makes me calm and at home, like browsing in a bookstore or sitting on the couch with my dog. Cool as a cucumber.

It is one thing to be aware of a preference or like. To know that I prefer a house that alludes more to a beach than a Victorian front parlor. But being risk adverse and in a rut can be mistaken for remaining calm and even tempered. I reached the end of last year and wondered was I any different than I had been in January? Had I gone anywhere? Tried anything new? Umm. No.

I have a strong memory of me as a child, maybe 4 years old, during show-and-tell at school. I wanted everyone to know I'd got new shoes. Red maryjanes. There's photo of me at about 2 in a blue corduroy dress, and yes, red lace up shoes. I was not always RED-adverse. I was joyful and wanted to go forward into the fun that only RED shoes could take me.

And that's why this year I am going RED. RED isn't calm. It isn't subtle or tranquil or peaceful. Don't get me wrong. I am a big fan of those things. But I am finding that action is needed in my life. Emotion. Risk. Not just to breathe but to gasp. And perhaps, like the child I was, it is time for me to put on my red shoes and go forward into whatever 2015 has for me.