Before I get back into full-blown Re-Entry to Reality mode though, I wanted to share with ya'll (yes, ma'am, I've been in the South) some of my thoughts and sights - in living color.
GREEN!
Green velvet hills
Typical Lexington street
Everything everywhere in Kentucky is green, verdant and lush. And of course the natives don't "get it," because that's all they've ever known. I truly believe their eyes would bleed if they were to drive down I-5 in California (the Golden State) in the middle of summer.
So yeah, there I was...ensconced in glorious green-ness, symbolizing (to me anyway) Spring, growth, fertility, rebirth, nature. And then it happened: I turned more than a smidge green myself. As in, green with envy.
There. I said it.
I mean, forgetting the mother-daughter relationship, when a 54-year-old woman spends a concentrated period of time with a 20-year-old, one can't help but suffer a mild (or moderate) case of jealousy and irritation.
I'm envious that in Julia's world, cottage cheese is...just that, and it's on the top shelf in her fridge right now. I'm green(ish) about her uberly buoyant booty and her long and lustrous eyelashes (that she could almost braid). And the reality is: she has more spunk than three of those Energizer bunnies.
I don't think envy is a bad or ugly thing, though. It's a perspective getter. And I came away thinking, It's your turn, Girl. Go for it! Make your mark!
And then another color emerged...
BLUE!
C-A-T-S, CATS CATS CATS!
A non-California version of "sea of blue"
Okay. I kind of misrepresented. Kentucky isn't all green. There's also blue. UK blue! Where it's almost a felony to wear red (Louisville's color) whilst one is within a 50-mile radius of the University of Kentucky .
Lucky me. I touched down in Lexington less than 48 hours after the basketball team won their 8th NCAA National Championship! Every citizen and college student in the city was "bleeding blue," and a lot of proud, safe, happy and boisterous celebrating ensued.
A strange thing happened, though, on my flight back to Cali: I turned blue as well. Not an I-need-to-triple-the-dose-of-Prozac kind of blue. Just blue.
I'm blue that "time is up" on doing all the quintessential Mom stuff, like changing dirty diapers and wiping cute littly snotty noses. I'm sad that the statute of limitations has run on my dispensing unsolicited, yet openly "devoured," advice as to how to handle the trauma and drama of "mean girls," the very same girls that were BFF's last week. I miss the days of sometimes hostile negotiations that went on as to the length of skirts and the height of heels. I'm even melancholy that I don't get to play referee between two hormonal, irrational, screeching, kicking, fighting sisters anymore.
Those days are gone. I've shot my wad. Fini. Finito. Finished. Done.
And I'm blue about it.
But not to worry. There's always that happy color...
YELLOW!
Yellow = Sunshine, Warmth, Optimism, Happiness.
In the end, yellow will always trump the greens and blues.
And for all of us -- whether we're 23 or 54 or 82 -- the future is so bright, we just gotta wear shades!
