Yellow

I watched him mix yellow into the white base and told him that it’s still not enough. I want it stronger, yellower, Like the sun. I want to wake up to optimism, to the happy-boppity warmth of my favorite color. For all that’s troubling me, I wanted nothing short of a beautiful sunshine colored cocoon.

I was determined to paint my own room and with his help finished it in a day. It’s a novel thing, this painting stuff, how there’s something comforting about the ease, the uncomplicated strokes, the mechanicality of the task. How easy it is to brush the wall and laugh and share a bit of ourselves to a stranger. It’s a task I think I can do all day, as long as I have someone to talk to, or laugh with, or like Manong who so patiently taught me how to paint, someone to listen to, to be happy and grateful for such an ordinary day—painting and sharing little stories, slices of our ordinary lives.