12/26/2021
Red feels like the glow of a concert, it feels like the LED lights of my old best friends room. It feels loud and angry, but at the same time, there's so much joy to be found within it. Like watching fireworks in the beginning of July while hundreds of people sing along to "Sweet Caroline", or like running down the street waving a flag behind you after your team just won the Super bowl. Red feels like passion and hurt and crying in the front seat of your bright orange xterra at 11:30pm with the traffic lights reflecting onto your face. But it still manages to remind me of driving my first car with all my friends sitting in the trunk laughing. It's the cups at the only diner in the area that stays open 24 hours, and the cushions of the booths at my favorite restaurant, and the neon signs that light up the streets of the city I used to adore. It's love and it's hurt all wrapped up in one.
Orange feels fresh. It reminds me of the creamsicle ice cream at the parlor my mom used to take me to when I was younger, or a trip to the fruit stand in the Keys. Orange is happy and bright and it feels like climbing the roof of the school down the road to watch the sunset, or dancing in the dim lighting of a parking garage in the middle of fall, or pulling over to buy fruit from a stand set up in the bed of someone's truck. It reminds me of swimming backwards out of the water at IRB so we don't miss a second of the sky, and writing love letters in a little blue notebook on the water and taking a shower in the morning. My favorite color to match my favorite feelings.
Yellow!! It's bright and cheery and feels like being a kid. Like sneaking to watch "The Simpson's" with your dad when your mom isn't home because she doesn't think you're old enough yet, or curling up under a blanket and falling asleep at your cousin's house. It's warm, like sunshine, or like the feeling you get when you think about your childhood home, or the color of the walls at your first job. It's like waking up in the morning and feeling refreshed, or coming home from work and seeing the cars of your whole family parked in the driveway and knowing they're all home for the night. Yellow is my little sister's favorite, it reminds me of dancing in the ocean while the sun goes down, or braiding flowers into my hair from the side of a mountain, or jumping across lined up school buses, or drinking tea in the summer.
Green is like the plants overgrown around my favorite abandoned house, or the lilypads floating on the lake me and my friends used to hang around when we skipped class. Green feels peaceful and bubbly, it feels like sweat in the summer and picnics in the trees, and blue jeans cuffed at the bottom. Like when school gets out but you don't have your license yet. Like growing up. Like coming home from vacation and running up to your room because you missed the walls covered in pictures of your friends. Green feels like swinging in hammocks over the side of a cliff, or bouncing on a trampoline in the middle of a field. It's driving downtown to your favorite plant store after a hard day to cheer yourself up, and tearing up from laughing so hard, and showering the salt water off after a day spent in the ocean. Green is youth.
Bluuuuuue is calm. It's hugs from behind and falling asleep on front porches in fall. It's the color of skim comps and shoes hanging from electrical lines. It feels like early mornings and watching sunrise, like camping out of a bus with your favorite people, and hanging your feet over the top of the abandoned mcdonald's roof. It's the color of hurt and of nostalgia, and of missing. It feels like realizing this is the last time you'll probably ever see someone again, and it feels like the drive home after telling them goodbye. It's the color of the calm after the storm, of living through the sadness, of the little moments in between the pain that make everything seem okay. Blue is like the East coast, like napping on sidewalks and climbing lifeguard stands, like looking up at the moon, and jumping to keep your head above the waves. Blue is peace and calm and sorrow all intertwined.
Purple reminds me of driving down the street leaving the beach just after sunset. It reminds me of the street light on the way home from Belleair that was never replaced. It reminds me of the few minutes before the sun begins to rise in the morning. It's the in-between. Purple is like waiting for something to happen, but you don't quite know what yet. Purple reminds me of holding someone's hand for the first time, or getting lost at the fair and unexpectedly running into an old friend, or when "We Can't Stop" by Miley Cyrus comes on at a party and you're the only one dancing. It's like sneaking into the hot tub up the road at 2 o'clock in the morning, or drifting through the parking lot after the rain stops. Purple is not knowing what's happening next, and being okay with it, it's wonder and risk and anxiety in the best way.
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