Friday, January 29, 2010

de Colores

Got through January. Often the most difficult month of the year for many. Now the light is changing, the birds are beginning to move into migration mode. If you look carefully, you can discern a faint pink to red hue on the trees...buds just waiting for enough warmth before bursting forth with spring colors. Can't help but be a little hopeful.

Been putting new color in my life this past month. Undertaken the task of painting the interior of our townhome, after living there for six plus years. Apartment life and military life prevented or precluded me from bothering to personalize any home with statements of color, but I'm done with that. I had promised Rebecca we would paint her room several years ago, and we have finally accomplished that as well as paint in five other rooms. The project is at a standstill right now, as each room is in a transitional state, waiting for furniture to be moved out, up, or over. Meanwhile, I've been mulling over the color scheme for my kitchen...and it has finally come together. Now, I'm really anxious to get started on that room and make real what has only recently come together in my mind.

For some, painting may not sound like a big deal. But for me, this project has been a challenge on so many levels. I do not like my life disrupted in this manner...things out of place, cleaning kept to a minimum because there's 'stuff' in the way, and the painting itself, which puts my perfectionist-but-not-very-professional painting skills to a real test. However, the last room I did (Rebecca's bathroom) I actually got into it. I mean, it was kind of zen, the experience. And now, sometimes I'll just walk in there and look around, and smile (not when I see Rebecca's dirty clothes stuffed behind the toilet, or the layers of dried soap and hair on the counter...oh, geez...)

So, I'm looking forward to completing this project, and am able to see that it actually will get completed. It's become more than just a painting project, it's become an experience in self-exploration. And it's been good, I can see that now. Ah, de colores...

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