Ever since I was a wee tot, I enjoyed coloring. The smell of new crayons in the traditional crayola box is just intoxicating. The sight of a 64 count box with build in sharpener? Hon-ney! Pass them right over. I glance over pens, markers, paper, but a box of crayons stops me in my tracks.
And, I'll have you all know, you are supposed to color INSIDE the lines. Yes, you are. Yes. You non-conformists and free thinkers, line up over on the left. I'll deal with you all later.
I would carefully, painstakingly color inside the lines, shading so carefully. I used to have an occassional friend over who would color in a completely HEATHEN manner (no offense to my friends, the heathens). She would not only apply improper pressure, nubbing up the tip, but she would actually tear the paper away from my crayon!!!! and color with the whole STICK, in broad, sweeping gestures. I knew that she would come to no good with her hedonistic tendencies. I think she became some sort of impressionistic artist and I could make a million with her scribbles on EBay today, had I actually kept them.
But me? Inside the lines all the way, baby. Careful, conservative and, you can say it, anal.
So it makes it all the more ironic that now, in my advanced age, all heck breaks lose with alarming regularity. Inside the lines? HAH! I'd be delighted if my life would stay on the PAPER! But no, it has a way of careening off course at the most INCONVENIENT times.
Today, I found that we may need to move, due to a school redistricting. They drew the lines of a proposed plan that would take my children away from the carefully chosen school district where my husband and I had hoped to send them. Indeed, the very house we purchased was bought greatly upon the assumption that our children would go to the tidy neighborhood school in the bright shiny yellow bus.
They drew some lines yesterday that negated that entire effort. And, I'm seriously annoyed.
And I'm moving, perhaps for the first time in a long while, outside the lines. I'll color over, peel back options and sweep my life into another order entirely if it means bettering my children's education.
Pass the crayons.
And, stand back.
And, I'll have you all know, you are supposed to color INSIDE the lines. Yes, you are. Yes. You non-conformists and free thinkers, line up over on the left. I'll deal with you all later.
I would carefully, painstakingly color inside the lines, shading so carefully. I used to have an occassional friend over who would color in a completely HEATHEN manner (no offense to my friends, the heathens). She would not only apply improper pressure, nubbing up the tip, but she would actually tear the paper away from my crayon!!!! and color with the whole STICK, in broad, sweeping gestures. I knew that she would come to no good with her hedonistic tendencies. I think she became some sort of impressionistic artist and I could make a million with her scribbles on EBay today, had I actually kept them.
But me? Inside the lines all the way, baby. Careful, conservative and, you can say it, anal.
So it makes it all the more ironic that now, in my advanced age, all heck breaks lose with alarming regularity. Inside the lines? HAH! I'd be delighted if my life would stay on the PAPER! But no, it has a way of careening off course at the most INCONVENIENT times.
Today, I found that we may need to move, due to a school redistricting. They drew the lines of a proposed plan that would take my children away from the carefully chosen school district where my husband and I had hoped to send them. Indeed, the very house we purchased was bought greatly upon the assumption that our children would go to the tidy neighborhood school in the bright shiny yellow bus.
They drew some lines yesterday that negated that entire effort. And, I'm seriously annoyed.
And I'm moving, perhaps for the first time in a long while, outside the lines. I'll color over, peel back options and sweep my life into another order entirely if it means bettering my children's education.
Pass the crayons.
And, stand back.
Comments
I'm sorry about the redistricting, and I hope it all works out, with a minimum of uprooting. And I'm sorry about distracting you this weekend. ;-)