Wednesday, June 23, 2010

A Crayola Forest



I promised my I would write about trees today. The beautiful, soft greens of spring, as well as the riot of reds and oranges in the fall. God has an amazing box of Crayolas at His disposal. I actually bought a box of 64 crayons last week just to try ant imitate what I see outside the window of the Garret everyday.

In a way, trees are like crayons, all standing upright in their little spaces. However, unlike Crayolas they all have brown wrappers instead of color-coded wrappings, unless you don't count the birches and sycamores with their white-splotched bark-wrappings.

One fall, as I was beginning yet another semester of graduate school, a good friend gave me a box of 48 crayons. "After all, school is starting, and who cares what 'grade' you're in, or your age-you need a new box of crayons." She was right. A new box of crayons is like January 1, Opening Day of baseball season, or your birthday. It is a new beginning when anything could happen, and you need to be prepared. With crayons.

I discovered Crayola has new colors: Macaroni & Cheese, Timberwolf (don't tell Stephanie Meyer), and Purple Mountain's Majesty, which made me feel very patriotic. Cornflower has always been a favorite, the same with Burnt Sienna and its counterpart, Raw Sienna.

I took my box of 48 crayons and did a little swatch test to see how they looked, and to find some new favorites. Wisteria is nice, as is Melon, Mauvelous, and Goldenrod. Now on to the box of 64. I need another sheet of paper...

There is a method to using crayons. First, you dump them all out of the box. No discipline or order here-this is play. Then you randomly pick one that strikes your fancy, scribble a swatch and saying the color name. Express your feelings about that color. "Ooohhh, Granny Smith Apple, niccceee." Sometimes you pronounce the color name in another language- "Spring Green...Vert Primtemps." Crayons are for fun, and self-expression. Whether it is just scribbling, or coloring a sky Sky Blue that, by the way, actually looks like the sky.

Crayola has a new catagory of colors: Kid's Choice. Famous is a beautiful, pure pink-but it is not carnation pink. I loved Bear Hug, a gray/silver mix. Super Happy is opaque yellow, and Happy Ever After is blue-green but not as dark as Blue Green (am I making sense?). Courage is a bright red-orange. I see the reasoning. Courage is a bright flame that inspires and encourages you even in the dark, mean times.

I think we all need a little box of crayons to carry around with us. We need Super Happy for the sun in our Sky Blue sky. Spring Green for the life around us, Bear Hug for caring and loving, and Courage. Maybe everyone's box could have two Courage Crayons. Because now we need an extra dose of something to give us strength, hope, and bravery. Perhaps, most importantly, we need Silver for the cloud lining in our Happy Ever After.