Archive for February 26th, 2008

I spent many many hours with crayons and coloring books as a child. And when I didn’t have either of those available, I’d happily resort to any number of substitutes: markers, blank paper, pencils, colored pencils, paint, construction paper, the leftover bulk print paper my grandma always got from the printer. It didn’t matter to me, so long as I could create colorful pictures.

Even in college, I kept a box of crayons on hand to color with. It was fun, to see what effects I could make with that simple box of crayons: soft and light, with colors blending; hard and glossy, making a strong statement of color. It made me feel like I was six years old again. It seems like there were many things I did in college that were meant to have that effect.

Yesterday, while doing some cleaning and sorting, I ran across some coloring pages that I’d printed up before we moved to Jacksonville. I had never gotten around to splashing color on them, so they stared up at me in stark black and white. They were mandalas that I had found online. Last night, I colored the one pictured at the beginning of this post. It took me nearly two hours to finish, if you can believe it. It’s not even that big!

This morning, J is still home sick, though she’s feeling significantly better than she did yesterday. As soon as Toph left for work, I began to hear the cries of boredom. So, I handed her the other mandala I had printed up so long ago. That, of course, made X clamor for one of his own. So, off on a Google search I went, since I was all out of coloring pages - mandala or not.

I found out that the first mandala, which is pictured above, came from June Moon’s free coloring book. I also found a whole bunch of other wonderful coloring pages, which are conveniently summarized at Activity Village.

The cries of boredom are quiet now. My children are rediscovering the once lost art of coloring. They sit on the couch, still in their pj’s, each with a lap desk in front of them. There is a big box of crayons squeezed in between them and a stack of printed coloring pages sliding off the back of the couch onto their heads. They are coloring, cutting and enjoying themselves. Just as I remember using crayons and paper to create colorful images as a child, I see them doing the same.

And it reminds me that life is good.