I have a backpack...Its filled with Colored Pencils...

I have a backpack..it is filled with Colored Pencils...

5 years ago...I had a pencil tin given to me by a friend, with 12 colored pencils in it

During Covid...I picked up that tin of 12 Colored Pencils while my kids were doing online School at home.

I think the coloring with those pencils was a way for me to be "in the room" without really being "in the room"

One afternoon, John sat across the room from me while he was "in class".  

Once in a while, he would take his headphones off and say something to me..about his class...or something funny someone was doing on Zoom...

I guess I was pretty focused on my colored Pencils....

I would just nod and silently acknowledge him...and often not even look up... and then he said it...

He took his headphones off...

"You know Mom... your a lot nicer with those colored pencils in your hand'"..

I looked up at him..

The Corners of his mouth were turned Up..

His eyes had a twinkle..a Light... 

It was As If he was saying...I see something New in you Mom... and I really like it..

I colored a lot during the height of the Pandemic...

I colored alone in my room..

I colored on the couch with my Family watching Netflix..

I colored on the Front Porch of our house..

I colored at the table..on the couch...on the porch... next to my daughter

I colored in the backyard on the picnic table

I colored in the garage...with the garage door open...and closed...

I colored in my bed...in the middle of the night by the light of a phone...

Those Colored Pencils...They were Light in the Darkness

The stress...

The fear...

The anger...

The loneliness...

It all had to go somewhere...

and None of us were Going Anywhere...

you know....

There are A LOT of different kinds of colored Pencils out there..there is wax-based, oil-based, water-soluble..which I learned....just means... water colored pencils...there are woodless pencils..but be careful with them..because they don't hold up to young artists...there are  different pigments, additives, binding agents...and paper..different types of paper...and..

So my tin of 12...

Has Sprouted into a backpack...well beyond colored pencils...

That Tiny Tin of 12 given to me by a Friend in Sept 2018...the Night Before a plane ride

to my Nana's Memorial Service In Harbor Beach Michigan...

My Nana was a 3x Cancer Survivor..

She lived the last 25+ years of her life Cancer Free..

She lived to be 96 years old..

That Simple Gift..

A Tiny Tin of 12 Colored Pencils...

Produced Light in the Darkness 

and still today...is Producing Sprouts of Life....