pink polka-dot pjs
Recently I thought of something that happened when I was probably 12 or so. (Now that I have a 12-year-old, I naturally think back a little more. I definitely felt older than she is.)
My family was in the car on our way home from somewhere and the conversation led to a coat of my mother’s. I said something like, “You should wear your pink coat.” I was referring to a ski coat that she had recently purchased and she said, “I don’t have a pink coat.” I tried to explain the coat and she said, “Oh. That’s not pink, it’s salmon.”
What? I didn’t know what she was talking about. Salmon? I thought this coat was really cute and I had paid extra attention. It was pink.
So for most of the ride home, back and forth we went.
Pink.
Salmon.
Pink.
Salmon.
When we arrived, the family dispersed in different directions, but both of us walked straight to the coat closet. I remember it very clearly. It was dusk, so the light was getting dim and we had mauve tile in the entryway (which could also be considered pink. A pink that I didn’t care for very much, if you must know.) I grabbed the doorknob and she reached into the closet and grabbed the coat. She held it out and we looked at it and with looks of triumph on our faces we both exclaimed at the same time, “SEE?!?”
What? How could we both be right?
I said, “It’s pink!”
She said, “It’s salmon!”
I looked away from the coat and into her face. It dawned on me that neither of us was wrong.
So, tell me what is the thought that just came to you? I’m interested in the different lessons we can learn from this story. You wanna write it in the comments? I love that a million different points could be made from one story.
7 comments:
TP must always come off the top of the roll not underneath.
This is a great example of how we can each see things a little different and we are all "right" in how we see them. Thanks for the reminder :)
Perceptions. That's the word that comes to mind. In each of our individual minds and individual experiences we perceive things in different ways. Our perceptions aren't necessarily right or wrong in many cases...I really wish you had a picture of the jacket then we could all weigh in on what color it really was. :)
Hmm.. Maybe that some things just need to be let go... You know?
I think mom was gutsy to put pink tile in that huge entry. I also think that the 1980's was awesome bc someone thought they could put pink tile in their house and that would b ok. I also think that everyone has their own reality in their own minds. And that has to be respected, even though it's really frustrating.
Great post, Brittany. Forgive me for going on a bit but it's a phenomena (the idea that both are right) is one I hope to understand some day. Another example can be seen in (and is still confusing in) astronomy. Pretend you are in space floating "under" the earth. If you were to look "up" to the south pole it would be spinning counter clockwise. But if you were above the earth and looked down on the north pole it would be spinning clockwise. Same object. Different "point of view". Both right.
I think it's amazing how unique everyone truly is.
Color has always fascinated me. My senses are always on overdrive and this post just made me realize, that our senses are unique to us. What we see, smell, touch, taste, love, feel etc is all different and right for us.
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