Tomayto, Tomaughto

I have always loved the color turquoise.  I don't know why; maybe it's because it reminds me of the sea, and my love of the beach.  Maybe it's because it goes well with my eyes; which are blue, not turquoise, but whatever.  Maybe it's because I find it calming. Maybe it's just because it's pretty.  For whatever reason, I am always drawn to it: turquoise jewelry, in particular.  However, I have been known to stop abruptly--right in the middle of a crowded aisle--when something as simple as a turquoise pillow, or candle, comes into view.  I'm even considering purchasing turquoise Fiesta ware; which would be quite a bold move for me.  And, though it's hard to admit now, in my foolish, foolish, youth I even owned a pair of turquoise 501s. 

But I'm a grown-up now, with grown-up tastes; which basically means I'm boring and wear a lot of black.   Oh, sometimes I'll throw in a touch of grey, or charcoal, but really aren't these just shades of black?  But I can't help it; I love it.  It's slimming.  It goes with everything.  And, of course, it's the perfect backdrop for all the WHITE fur my YELLOW lab leaves in his wake.

Until recently, I'd never given much thought to one's color preferences.  I just assumed we like what we like.  But maybe there's more to it than that.  Maybe, for instance,  genetics are involved.  Or, maybe one's preferences are based on the environment; what we see around us, what our friends and family wear, what we see as comforting, comfortable.  Well, I don't know if it's nature or nurture spinning the color wheel at my house, but there seems to be A LOT of black clothing making the rounds in my laundry room.

While most of it belongs to me, Dave and Nora both seem to gravitate to this color as well.  As a matter-of-fact, if you ask Nora what her favorite color is, she'll quickly reply, "black."  Much to most of her friends' horror, for purple, followed by blue, seems to be the most popular color among eight-year-old girls. As such, her recent request for a new bed cover, in--you guessed it--black, did not come as a surprise.  

Dave's tastes, I believe, are governed by gender. Or simply put, he sees black as an approved manly color, much like navy blue or grey.   Oh he will don a little red from time to time, when he's feeling wild, but this comes in the form of a WSU sweatshirt,  ergo* a major fashion faux-pas that we will continue to work on.  

Anna, unlike the rest of her family, tends to veer toward the sunny side of the closet.  Oh, she will wear black from time to time, but I don't think she'd say it's one of her favorites.  I don't know if she'd even be able to pick one color as her favorite.  As her closet clearly demonstrates, she likes them all.  And, like Roy G. Biv himself, she proudly wears them all; even if they are tights, in "berry," or pants that look like mint ice cream.  And she never thinks about mixing and matching while she's shopping.  She doesn't care if her new purchase will "go with" ten things or nothing.  If she likes it and it's colorful, she buys it.  And you can not talk her out of it; believe me, I've tried.

When it comes to turquoise, however, I think most of her "collection," is in the form of jewelry.  So I had to laugh when she told me of a recent conversation, regarding turquoise jewelry, with a girl at college.  Apparently, as the story goes, this girl hails from California.  A very wealthy area in California. Actually, the very wealthy area of California, wherein the residents don't know how to pronounce simple words, like turquoise.  For it was during this conversation, that said girl mentioned to Anna how much she loved the color "turquoi," which Anna carefully pronounced to me as tur-kwoi.

When Anna appeared clearly confused by this proclamation, said girl demonstrated her point by showing Anna a ring she was wearing.

To which Anna replied,"Oh! you mean turquoise!" 

To which the girl replied, "No. I mean turquoi.  That's how we pronounce it at home."

To which Anna said to me, "Can you believe that mom?  I tried to tell her it's actually called turquoise, but she wouldn't hear it!"

To which I laughed and replied, "well, to-may-to, to-maugh-to.  Sometimes you just can't win kid."

This point was made evident to me, yet again, a few weeks ago, when Nora ventured out of her Miss Mary Mack-ness and dressed herself for her school's Veterans Day assembly.  Per her teacher's request, she was asked to come to school wearing the patriotic Red, White, and Blue.  So I was a little surprised when she came downstairs that morning in a RED headband, WHITE t-shirt and BLUE turquoise cardigan.  When I asked her why she was wearing a turquoise sweater, she replied  "Mom!  It's blue!"

"Um...no dear," I thought.  "It's tur-quoi."  You see, like Anna, I, too, know when I cannot win.

xoxo-

S

P.S.  Recently, Nora and I have both encountered the word ergo in our readings.  I told her it was my goal to use it on my blog. I'm weird that way.  And she agreed that this was a good goal. As you can see, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.  But if you need more proof, she also asked for a thesaurus for Christmas--I kid you not!!!


P.P.S.  I'd like to thank Anne K. for introducing me to Roy G. Biv at our kids' soccer game last saturday.  Apparently, I've been living under a rock for the last forty-five years!