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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Mother (as in maternal parent) (04/24/08)
One of my favorite times of the year when I was a child was the week before school began. I waited with anxious anticipation for the day to arrive when my mom would take me to get school supplies. I remember the smells of school that filled the aisles of the super store and the promises of an expanded mind that each pen and each empty pad of paper had to offer. I scrambled to find the most unique folder or zaniest notebook, any item that could fulfill both of my needs to stand out but still fit in. However, my most prized possession of each trip was the 64-count box of crayons with the built in sharpener. I continued to get these annually despite my lack of school need for them. The brightly colored tips stood erect in all their splendor, from the lightest to the darkest and every shade in between, appearing proud of their hues and of their position. I fell in love with them at an early age, each one unique to me, offering hope within their hues to brighten my world.

It is many years later now but I still remember my crayons with favored fondness. However, it was not in the crayon box that I found my brightest color, but in my boy.
I am a single mom of a soon to be eleven year old and his life has splashed the canvas of my life with God made hues that I never found in my crayon box. On the day of his birth, the shades of new life dazzled me beyond belief. The tints of his smiles and the ensuing giggles offered me tones that could be felt rather than seen. Each “first” became a pigmentation of progress decorating the path of his maturity. The luminosity of his unconditional love bathed me in the brightness of his essence, spurring me to be the best mom I could be, the best woman I could be and the best human being I could be. His moods glossed my days with pleasant but sometimes sticky shellacs as I sought to provide him with all his needs and most of his wants. As he grows older, his palate continues to expand as He dabbles and mixes the colors of his own life. He has had some hard knocks along the way, learning early and painful lessons about life, love, loss and forgiveness. However, his spirit remains vibrant and in times of praying together, I can see that when he is aligned just right with God, similar to a prism, he is his most colorful as the light of God shines through him. What a glorious gift I have been given to witness the masterpiece God is painting in my son, for it has taught me that the colors in our lives are just introductory reflections of Him.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Jan Ackerson
05/02/08
This first part of this really amde me grin, because I thought I was the only person in the world who adored freah new school supplies!

This is a good object lesson. Suggestion: break your long paragraphs into shorter, more digestible chunks.

Good job.
Joy Faire Stewart
05/03/08
A very enjoyable read. I like the theme of "color" throughout. Good job!
Carol Sprock
05/04/08
Your line "splashed the canvas of my life with God made hues" delighted me both in the extended metaphor of color-art and in the deep love you have for your son.