Celebrating Red

I remember tomatoes warm from the sun, tomatoes a color I bite into and know pleasure.

I remember a silk dress I love – twirling in it in church, feeling like I was the Pentecost flame, arching ever more upward with each turn.

Scarlet Kingsnake
Non-venomous snake

I remember a snake so small crossing my path (or was I crossing his?) on the Appalachian Trail, a quiet intrusion of color in a quiet place made colorless by the very profusion of the sameness of the browns and greens of the forest – a small creature of white and red stripes – not crimson, not blood, just crayon-box red – ordinary and beautiful.

And now, in the winter, I revel in the cardinal in the bare forsythia branches outside my window.  His is the color of pride and I am impressed.

Today, I celebrate red.