Yellow

The walls of my home are yellow. Actually, the official color is "Oriental Silk" but that tells you absolutely nothing. Yellow seemed a natural color to paint our home since I grew up in a home that favored yellow. The kitchen was yellow...and my bedroom and bath were as well. The trim on the house? Yellow. I suppose that as a result, I equate the color yellow with home.

I have always liked yellow...but it was not one of those colors that I gave a great deal of thought. It is the color of school buses, blonde hair, American cheese, and cake mix. It is one of those colors that is not masculine or feminine...and seems to belong to all of us. Yellow is the color taken to a baby shower when we are unsure of the gender. It is wrapped around trees in anticipation of the return home of someone in service or missing from our lives.

Yellow is the color of lemons and grapefruits, of golden delicious apples, and bananas. It is the color of the leaves in the Fall, the daffodils in spring, and fresh corn on the cob in summer. It is a color that is alive and abundant in nature. It is familiar to us...but does not overpower. It is also rarely one that people list as a favorite...it is that understated.

It is the color of the roses that are my mother's favorite...and every time I see a yellow rose, I think of her and smile. Yellow is the color that we - as children - colored the sun. A half circle with lines extending from it protruding from a corner of the paper. It is warm and inviting, and if I recall correctly...doesn't show up as well as I wanted it to on the paper.

Yellow is the color assigned to fear...of being afraid. It seems unfair to me as it is such a quiet color most of the time. Other times, it is vibrant and neon and odd. It ranges from pale in hue to harvest gold and alerts us to information that we may find helpful on street signs. It is the center color on a stoplight...between stop and go. It is a color that cautions us to pay attention.

To me, though, yellow is the color of constancy and home. It is the color that has seemed most welcoming to me. It is the color that complemented the pink in my wedding decorations, and the bottom of the pieces of candy corn. It is always present, but does not stand in line to be seen first.

Yellow...beautiful and complementary...while also primary and vibrant. The color mixed with blue to achieve green and with red to make orange. Strong enough to stand alone...but also strong enough to not necessarily need to.