A Purple Crayon Imagination

Over at The Redhead Riter, the Tell The Truth Thursday question posed today is "If you were a crayon, what color would you be?"

This got me thinking. Of course, my first thought was of the color blue. Blue is my favorite color. Deep aqua blue is the color of the sea; it's the color of swimming. Light blue is the color of the sky; it is the color of flying. Clear blue is the color of my five year old daughter's eyes; it is the color of innocence. Dark blue is the color of the night sky, lit by stars and the moon; it is the color of eternity. Blue is the color of freedom.

But my thinking on this subject went further. Yes, blue has a lot going for it, but this year, my life has been full of learning new things, trying out new adventures and having the courage to dream. And having the courage to dream means I am creating the world I want to live in, one step at a time. I really believe that if I can imagine it and dream it, then I can make it happen. And I really want my kids to believe this too. I want them to grow up knowing that they can create their own reality if they strive for what they want, and I want them to know that they are capable of great things. I want them to value their imaginations. So what color could possibly encompass all of these things?

That's when a children's story came to my mind, "Harold and the Purple Crayon" by Crockett Johnson. In the story, the little boy creates whatever he wants by drawing it with his purple crayon. The purple crayon represents his imagination which has the power to bring things into Harold's reality.

So that is the color I would have to be - purple. And I hope my children have the courage to be purple crayons too.


Tell The Truth Thursday

Where to buy "Harold and the Purple Crayon":
In the U.S.


In the UK: