Hello Little Miss Sunshine!
El, Today I chose this term of endearment for you because of
the clothing articles you picked to wear this morning. When your Mommy brought you over to
visit, you came in an outfit that definitely screamed ‘Ellie’ as you had on
your Mickey Mouse 100 rainbow faces T-shirt, your red/white/blue patriotic
ruffled skirt and your orange and green mosaic tiled rain boots (and it wasn’t
raining outside, but that is a moot point).
I am not sure if the fashion industry would have
complimented you on your unique sense of style or if they would have simply
walked away because they couldn’t uncross their eyes from the busyness that was
happening on your whole being!
Honestly though El, I thought you looked gorgeous... and your Great-Grandmom
Bubbles would have stated that you were definitely related to me as when I was
little I too wore a lot of colors all at one time. And the brighter the better… come to think of it, I was the color-wheel! Anyway back to that morning… within
minutes you found a bag of new outfits that I had recently bought for you in
your Mom’s old closet and asked if you could try them on. Of course I said yes… and after
observing one of your quirky moments along with a few events that happened
during the past few weeks, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about for my
blog. And here it is Ellie-bean.
Life Lessons Learned
#23: Color choices tell a
lot about people.
OK… first I need to get back to your outfit choice and do my
best at retelling the scene you set before me. Ellie, in the clothing bag you delightfully rummaged through,
you found a beautiful vibrant yellow culotte ruffled skirt. Your response was “Oh Wow!” and off
came your hot pink shorts so you could quickly don this new article of clothing,
which you fell in love with instantly.
Seeing yourself in the mirror, you no longer cared for the multi-colored
sequin tank top that you were sporting and started rooting through the bag to
find something more matchable.
In your eyes El it had to match exactly (yellow with yellow… even if the
yellows did not blend well) so instead of picking one of the complimentary
tops, you chose a willowy lemon yellow sleeveless shirt to wear with the
skirt. Did it match? Nope. Did you care? Nope. Were you happy with it? Yep. And what
you did next El is what you do best.
You let your imagination take over. In my eyes you looked like a not quite ripe Chiquita banana,
but in your eyes, you saw a yellow flower, which quickly set your mind in
motion! You informed me that you
were going to curl up into a little ball and be a tiny baby flower (I think you
meant to say that you were going to start off by being a ‘seed’, but from past
experience, I knew not to correct you!).
Anyway, I was instructed to commentate your growth. So for the next few minutes, I
elaborated on the beauty of this tiny little flower trying to reach through the
soil and grasp the rays of sunshine to help in the growing process. I then said, “Grow little one, let your
stemmy body reach for the sky, let your leafy fingers stretch towards the sun,
and spring upward into a beautiful yellow tulip!” And while I talked, you slowly stretched yourself to a
standing position with your arms held high over your head. You then turned to face the full-length
mirror and smiled with satisfaction!
You were now a piece of horticulture! Oh my. Yellow is said to create warmth and
cheerfulness as well as increase ones mental activity and muscle energy. It is also said that it stimulates the
nervous system. Well… its
definition couldn’t be more perfect as you nailed it to a tee Miss
Sunshine!
Now I will rewind to a few days prior this moment. Ellie, I was helping your Mom and Dad
paint some of the bedrooms in your new home. Your Mommy is a girl after my own heart, as she picked out
some really beautiful and bold color choices (the kind that just “pop” off the color chart!). Upon her request, the first bedroom I
tackled was your new baby brother’s room.
Here your mom asked me to paint it a striking electric blue.
I think he will like it Ellie, as it is
considered a dynamic and exhilarating color. As he grows, he will certainly feel charged each morning and
ready to tackle whatever situation awaits him! Next I painted the guest room. Your Mom asked me to paint this one a gorgeous neon lime
green/white in memory of your older brother Kyle. And what a perfect choice it was for its color means:
spring, growth and rebirth. Being
present in this color helps to replenish and renew ones energy. I believe Kyle would have liked that. But since you, my sweet grandchild, seem
to have an abundance of this element already, I don’t foresee you spending much
time in the green room! However,
the room I do see you spending a lot of time in is your own bedroom. Ellie, you told your Mommy that your
favorite color is pink, so she picked out an eye-popping hot pink paint (its
official color name is Fussy Pink) for me to slap on those walls. Once I was finished all I could say was
“Wow!” I loved it! The color pink is meant for all little
girls because it represents sugar and spice and everything nice. And the color hot pink represents
playfulness. Well, that is a definite and I can see why El. Do you know that every time I enter
your new bedroom now I have this uncontrollable urge to break out the board
game Candyland and pretend to be the character Lolly from the Lollypop Woods?! And that statement couldn’t have been
written with truer words for you too.
I noticed that every time you enter this bright and bold room your
demeanor becomes lively! Why the
other day as I moved on to painting doors you came out of your new bedroom and
informed me that I was to be a teenager and you would be my teenage mommy. Let me just say that it was a very
interesting as well as eye opener work/playtime! I do believe that you and I are going to have a grand
time playing Let’s Pretend in that awesome room of yours!
But besides the bold colors that we three (your Mommy, you
and myself) are drawn too, there are also many subdued colors. And I encourage you to use them Ellie
when you are feeling different emotions.
Did you know that the color purple represents spirituality and also the
imagination? If you are feeling
calm and quiet you should immerse yourself in the color ivory. When I asked you the other day what
color you do not like, you answered brown. Ellie, brown represents simplicity and
dependability so even though you may not care for it on yourself, keep an open
mind when you view it elsewhere.
And one last thing…
I want to show you how two completely different people, both beautiful,
both intelligent, both loving and caring individuals eye the colors black and
white. Your Aunt Ally wears them because
she views black and white as conservative colors. She is a traditional woman and believes these colors
represent the basics. And these basics have survived time. One of Aunt Ally’s points defending her
own argument is that if something survives time, how can you go wrong? She also feels that you don’t
need exotic and crazy colors to accentuate beauty… simplicity will do. She is a very classy woman Ellie… and
when she wears her strand of ivory pearls, Ally reminds me of Jackie O.
Now when your Aunt Sammy wears the colors black and white
she also sees this match as a very classic look, one that never goes out of
style. When I asked her how she
felt when wearing these colors your Aunt Sammy said, “I feel very put together
as it gives off a sophisticated look.”
And she couldn’t be more right El.
Aunt Samantha knows how to ‘dress it up’ for a stunning look when an
evening out on the town is in order and she knows how to ‘dress it down’ for
work and casual day wear. She too
is a classy woman El… and when she wears her gold bangles and beads, Sammy
reminds me of Marilyn Monroe.
So I guess the lesson learned here Ellie is that all colors
represent different emotions and what shades we wear tell others a little bit
about ourselves. It is ok to stay
within our comfort zone if we so choose, and it is also ok to deviate from our
set pallet as we grow. Just remember
to always be your own person Ellie.
Those who truly love you will accept you in whatever shades you don.
Love you Miss Pinkalicious!
Mimi
Wow how you put a lesson on just colors I love it!!!!
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