Layers of Paint

A few years back our daughter asked if she could paint her bathroom. Of course my fatherly, default answer of "no" was already on my lips, but something in me said "so what?"  Now that might have been Abby's legal representative / advocate's (aka: mother's voice); so I can't take much credit I'm sure for this.

To my surprise, the color chosen was lime green (see photo). Honestly it was hard to walk in there very often because of the brilliant color scheme. Looking closely in the corners, around the ceiling, light fixture, door... there was lime green in places where one would not expect there to be lime green.

This week marked a new chapter in our lives as Abby is now a full-time student at UNM. We are now in the process of reclaiming 'normal' color schemes in that bathroom. Ahhhhh... brown tones! And of course in her room we began the long, hard process of cleaning and organizing the closet. Between the hairpins and air-soft BB's left over from when Mik occupied that room / closet, there are a lot of memories.

Underneath the new layer of paint are air-soft dents in the drywall, weird paint color schemes... Our lives are much like - layers. Beneath the exterior of our marriages and families' lives are layers of great memories (some not so great) and life experiences that are too often painted over without hesitation or consideration. As I began painting the bathroom I could only laugh and smile - it was a labor of love. I'm going to leave a few spots of lime green just to say to future generations and homeowners - "we were here!"

If your teenage daughter asks if she can paint her room or bathroom - say "yes" - you'll never regret it!

Pastor Paul