True Colors

On Sunday mornings my sisters and I would sit at the foot of my parent's bed and watch Captain Kangaroo on the small black and white TV while we waited for Dad to curl our bangs. I remember being shocked when I saw Captain Kangaroo in color, he didn't look as old as he was supposed to look, because he didn't have all that gray hair. I was never able to see Captain Kangaroo without seeing that funny strawberry blond hair that made that hair cut look even weirder, not even on the little black and white TV screen. I don't remember anything else about that show, just the difference color made.

I spent most of my life imagining Europe in black and white. Everything about it seemed old-fashioned to me, or maybe it just seemed so far away it had to look different then what I knew. They had to work harder with the lighting and textures to make it beautiful, but it was elegant, and being in Europe made it so you didn't miss the color. I'm not sure when this B&W version of Europe was colorized in my mind, but now when I imagine Europe it isn't as romantic. I haven't seen Europe through my own eyes yet, and I hope that the color is better than my black and white version, because my colorized version isn't as pleasant.

The funny thing is, those things that I wish could be black and white again, were never black and white, at the very least they were different shades of gray, if not full-on color turned into what I called black and white. Wouldn't it make parenting easier if some things really were black and white. I do love my colorful little one, and all the color he brings to my life. I just wish I could tell him never to hit, without hoping that he'll be able to defend himself if he ever needed to.

After writing three different things about "Color" I decided on this one for Scribbit's Write-Away Contest. You still have a couple days if you would like to join in! Justin, or I, took the photo at the Washington Irving Home last October.