Apparently I’m into the color blue. And by into, I mean the
vast majority of clothing and belongings I’m bringing to Micronesia are blue.
Not just light blue, and not just dark blue. Every shade of blue you can
imagine I have packed away in my luggage. And here I was thinking my power
color was red, but more on that later.
I think my collection of blue developed out of practicality.
When I first began shopping for Micronesia, I checked out Target which carried
100% cotton shirts for next to nothing. I’m talking $5-$7. It’s a pity not more
people wear cotton, really. Anyway, the majority of the shirts they were
selling were bright colors…pink, orange, yellow, and red. But every now and
then they’d add another color to the sale rack, and if I was lucky and there on
the right day, I could find a shirt that actually complimented my skin tone and
that didn’t make me look like a highlighter. I’d pick up a light blue shirt
here…and a dark blue shirt there…and then a teal shirt…and then maybe a turquoise
shirt…and then later a navy shirt…then a sky blue shirt…and soon enough I owned
a rainbow of blue shirts. I then had to go about matching those shirts to
skirts. Black was a no-go (too hot) and white simply would not do (it would
quickly turn to brown). So, what better to match with blue…but more blue! A few
blue skirts and dresses later, my rainbow of blue turned into an ocean.
And to make matters worse, my family and friends caught onto
my blue shopping trend and started contributing to my collection. Just
yesterday, my dad came home with a blue suitcase lock. Oh Dad…
My ocean of blue now includes blue sandals, towels, bed
sheets, LifeStraw, underwear, luggage tags, bathing suits, swim trunks, swim
shirts, hat, water bottle, tank tops, shirts, skirts, and much, much more.
This new blue obsession strikes me as odd because until
recently I have surrounded myself with the color red. During my four years at
UC Merced I’d decorate my dorm (sorry, HRL…most of the people reading this
don’t understand the difference between “dorm” and “residence hall”) with reds,
oranges, and yellows because the colors gave me strength and courage (cliché, I
know). Sure, the colors probably contributed to my cockiness in college, but
hey, whatever works!
So as I stare at my pile of clothing and belongings on the
floor, hoping it'll pack itself, I can’t help but to find it interesting
that I have transitioned to a much more calm, soothing color. I would have
thought I would buy more of my red power color to pump me up for this adventure,
but as my mom mentioned yesterday as we were buying blue bed sheets, this new
wave of blue “must mean
something.”
And though I complain that I’ll disappear into the surrounding
ocean, the blues blend together and soothe me during this stressful time.
Back to packing!
Rachel
Only a handful of my blue and green belongings.
