Colors of the Sun

What was your favorite color when you were a child? What color was your bedroom? Were those two colors the same?

I had a pink gingham bedroom with a white canopy bed. If I said that aloud to people who actually know me now, any beverage in hand would come shooting out of their noses.

Nothing is technically wrong with pink, particularly in a vintage way or in a fiercely ironic Hello Kitty way. Let's just say I moved beyond my pink phase years ago, if I ever was in it, in fact. It may have just been a parental projection of what little girls should like.

Trouble is, I've been a purple phase for a very long time. There are so many lovely shades of purple: violet, lavender, mauve, aubergine, lilac, amethyst, orchid, plum, periwinkle.

Purple looks good on me. Purple goes well with my other favorite color, black. Purple is easy. Purple makes me happy.

But I don't want to be stuck in a rut--I'm always pushing myself to try other colors, not make purple my first choice.

When my knitting guild decided to do the sunburst sling as a knit along, I looked at the color card and immediately went for one of the three purples. No, I told myself, not purple. Anything but purple.

I considered black--too muddy. White--too dirty. Yellow--too weird.

I had to call in an expert, my friend Te. Te comes to my house and tells me what I'm doing wrong. He tells me where I need to move the furniture. He rearranges the artwork. He recommended my hair stylist. I turn to him when I need help with things beyond my limitations.

He picked green. Great color, I thought. I have a lot of green things. Green looks good on me. It won't scream out--GIANT PURPLE PURSE! Green is subtle, soothing. I happily went for the green.

Green was sold out.

Maybe I really was meant to have a purple purse. After all, it will coordinate with half my wardrobe.