Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Pretty good with color...

When Charlotte and I first met Phil, she and he made a deal. She would crochet him an afghan and he would paint her a picture. He got to choose (and buy) the yarn and pattern and she got to suggest a subject. Charlotte said she wanted a yellow umbrella featured prominently in her painting. He selected a manly, heavy pattern and then was off to the store to select yarn. I got to go with to be his assistant.

Standing in front of the vast array of yarn possibilities the following conversation took place:

Heidi: "So what are we looking for here?"

Phil: "I need three different yarns."

Heidi: "What about these, or these, or these?"

Phil: "I just need your help selecting the type of yarn, I'm pretty good with color so I can handle that part."

He selected a nice burgundy, blue, and gray. We have a great, heavy, manly afghan as a result. Charlotte has a Phil Kesler original hanging on her office wall (I think it is still there) featuring a rainy street corner with a bright yellow umbrella. What a deal!

Flash forward about ten years when Phil and I got married. We bought a house that needed to be updated. We nearly got a divorce while trying to select the colors for the walls. I just had to remember that although Phil IS the artist and professor, I'm pretty good with color too. Eventually we agreed on our color palette and we quite enjoy the colors in our home.

Now flash forward two and a half more years to this very morning. As I was getting Eden dressed (in her purple turtleneck and purple sweater) she exclaimed, "purple shirt!" I hadn't told her it was purple (today). She also knows blue, green, yellow, red (although she sometimes calls it "Elmo color"), and orange.

Yeah, she could proclaim: "I'm pretty good with color!"

She is. He is. I am. We are.

1 response(s):

Charlotte said...

memories, light the corners of my mind, misty water-colored memories . . .