E-Grrrl was doing her homework and I was down folding laundry in the basement when I heard her holler, "Mama! Mama! Come quick!"

The urgency in her voice was alarming, but when I bounded up the stairs, she had the camera in her hand and said, "Look! Look! Look! A rainbow!"

She was so excited and I stood at her side until the light shifted and the colors faded away.

She commented on how magical it was, all those colors! I reminded her that the colors are there always, in every bit of light, but we just don't see them until conditions are right.

Life is like that too. Here's a short list of ordinary things that colored my day:

• the satisfying snap of pistachio shells opening and dropping a crunchy salty nut in my hand
• having E-Grrrl tell me "When you wear that shirt and those boots, you look ten years younger!"
• using a heat gun and embossing powder to magically make gold Christmas trees bloom on a piece of cardstock
• the delicious feeling of having my hair shampooed and conditioned before my haircut at the salon
• getting a long awaited package from LL Bean containing, among other things, a hot pink down vest and black berber fleece vest ( I am ALL about vests in the winter, y'all)
• realizing yet again how much my achey back loves the heated seats in my car
• the smell of freshly laundered flannel sheets and blankets
• big hugs and lots of thank yous from my son
• sharing a Snickers bar with my daughter
• laughing out loud over a story about a bus driver who was using a GPS system to drive 50 British tourists to Lille, France. They ended up in Lille, Belgium instead--four hours away from their intended destination
• enjoying more than one glass of Slovenian white wine, made by friends who own a farm and vineyard there. This wine tastes like the grape, not like the oak cask--better than good.

What colored your world today?

December 13, 2007