The winner! Ballet White it is!
After painstakingly slathering large swatches of every off white paint color known to man, we have decided on her! Why? According to YouTube, she gives off “subtle moody undertones in the midday sun and cozy hugs as night falls.” It sounds like a dating profile…”Single White Female seeks solid, established Blank Wall. Let me color your world!” Ha!
Ballet White… the color we chose to cover the robin egg blue walls of our new home. And as we pulled back the baseboards, layers of paint peeled away with it. Robin egg blue…khaki brown…olive green, each color once chosen with love by the previous owners. Each layer painted on with care, only to be covered by the next homeowner’s pallet. Defining past and present with the stroke of a brush.
It gave us pause. Respect for the labors of love that came before us but also perspective on the cycles of life within these walls. These weren’t just colors of paint. They were Thanksgiving meals, Christmas mornings, and nightly news. Just like a tree laying down concentric rings, telling her story of rainfall or drought, feast or famine. We were now the ring after the last and before the next.
It’s not as if we needed to buy an older home, gut it, and start afresh in order to realize our own mortality. After saying goodbye to both of our parents , we know we are the frontline. How did that happen? Just yesterday we were dancing in discos, staying out late, getting up early, burning the candle from both ends. And we had the energy to do it!
Now we are grandparents, living in a retirement community, and shopping for a golf cart. A “one car” couple shuffling between doctor’s appointments and water aerobics! We are all slowing down, losing steam, gravitating toward sitting more than standing, walking more than running, listening more than talking, and maybe laying down that last layer of paint.
I’m serious! I am never painting again! What? You thought I was going all morose on you? That I was implying this was going to be my last home before assisted living? That I was singing my swan song? No way, sister. Ive got a lot more living to do! I just hate painting!
But if it is so, so be it. If this is the last chance to pick a Color of the Year, I embrace it with gratitude. I cherish being a grandma to my sweet Theo. I love sitting and thinking about plants and watching birds. I’m excited for my morning coffee and thankful for every sunrise, just as my mother was thankful for every one of her sunrises.
So I’m embracing this concentric ring of life. It’s all ethereal and temporary anyway. In a blink of an eye…Nothing lasts forever…except for Ballet White.
SWF meets Blank Wall and lives happily ever after. The end!