The Colors of our Lives

        I was going through my post drafts' list here in the catacombs of the history of this blog, and found this one from August of 2014.  I cannot remember to whom I wrote the message, but it might as well have been my future self, at that point, because reading it right now has given me a very surprising reminder of something I think I might have forgotten.  Have a read!

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        In an email I sent a struggling friend, the following came out of my fingers, and I hope that friend won't mind my sharing this excerpt.  You see, this is actually something I could share with any number of people, in an attempt to help explain why people seem to think I'm all flavors of positive, all the time.  I feel it's important they/you understand it.  So...I'm sharing it, with deepest respect and gratitude:

"I was thinking about how much I tend to express how positive I think and feel about you, and all the good I've seen in you.  For all I know, you might think all I do is try to flatter or placate you.  If so, please know that it isn't true.  I understand the darker, deeper tones of life.  But I also see the brighter, more vibrant hues, and sometimes we can tend to overlook those.  Perhaps that's why I prefer watercolors to oil.

"You see, most people think oil painting is easier than watercolor, because you start with the dark background colors, and then use the lighter and brighter colors as you go, with the most vivid at the very top, and last.  In watercolor, you must "paint the white" first.  If you start with the dark in a watercolor picture, there will be no way to add anything lighter, because it will just blend into a murky soup.  You have to actually leave the highlights, and paint around them, leaving the darkest, deepest colors for last.

"Because many people think they paint their lives in oil, they often only see the darkness of them, and forget that light is there; it just hasn't been added yet.  But for me, I can see the light, and the added colors bring beauty and depth to the image, when I look at them.  A funny, little metaphor, but a decent one. :) "

        I hope my sharing this allows someone to feel a little less alone, a little more understood, and a little more sure that there is love in the world, for you.  We're worth loving.  Yes, even you.

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        So... that was what I wrote way back in August of 2014, and it has sat in the darkness of pixels and text, just waiting for a chance to surface into the light.  I don't know how my perspective feels different, now, but maybe it isn't so much that I've been looking in oils, but that maybe I've reached the deeper tones of my experience, and so things look much differently as the painting is coming together.

        I still feel there is much love in the world for each of us, though.  And we're worth that.

        Better days ahead, my friends.