Stay In The Lines

I should have posted this earlier, but I've been having too much fun.

A few days ago Kathy, the author of Journey to Flow suggested that one way to deal with life's challenges is to honor the artist child inside you. She went on to say one way to do that is to buy a box of crayons and color.

I thought that was an awesome idea. I haven't used crayons for years, so I took myself to a local discount store to buy one of those familiar green-and-yellow boxes. I picked the right time to do it; I found a box of 24 crayons for only 25 cents in the back to school department. It was fun wandering through the section and reminiscing about all the years I hurried through with school lists in hand, trying to get it all done as quickly as possible. This year I could take my time and smile encouragingly at all the harried mothers.

When I got home I opened the box and looked at the sharp, perfectly intact crayons that were aligned according to color. I took a deep breath and took in the wonderful smell, then closed the box back up and set it on the kitchen table for a bit. I needed something to color ON.

When the boys were young we had a cabinet in the kitchen filled with paper, coloring books, crayons, markers, and assorted other craft items. However, those things are long gone. A little Internet research showed me, though, that you don't need to have a coloring book any more. I downloaded and printed out some pages to use, carried them upstairs, and sat down at the table.

At first I didn't want to start, because I didn't want to ruin the perfectness of the crayon box. Soon, though, I grabbed the red-violet and started on my geometric shape design. I finished the first page and began a second. Because the shapes on my pages were subject to interpretation, I could use my imagination to make patterns and designs.

If you walk into our house next week, you won't find my artwork stuck to the refrigerator, but I guess there' s no age limit to relaxing while coloring.