Photo A Day, Day 24: A Pop of Color

When I married my husband, our finished basement was beige. Off-white walls, beige couch, dull taupe rug, light brown furniture, even the single painting on the wall was black and white with a hint of beige. It had no color, no personality. It was just…beige.

But once small children entered (or, in his case, re-entered) our lives, so did color. The baby toys were vivid primary colors and bold, bright shapes. The toddler toys were slightly more subtle but still bright and vivid. The preschool toys are becoming a bit less of an assault on the eyes, but still solid, bold colors and patterns. And the toys are everywhere. So on every formerly dull, bland, beige surface, there can always be found a pop of color.

Today, I glanced at my beige couch, covered with a dull brown blanket, next to a boring black chair, with a single pair of plain white socks resting on it, and saw a single piece of bright red, glitter-coated tissue paper. A pop of color. And it made me smile. Because not only is it a cheerful color, it is also a reminder of the project that my son and I did together earlier in the day. It was a symbol of how my son can now read directions himself, how he can figure out how to put things together and how to make them work. It was a reminder that he loves to be creative, and that he loves for me to watch him and to help him in that creativity.

It reminded me how, in the sometimes dull beige of my life, my family is always a beautiful pop of color.