Notes from the Heart (Email Newsletter, April 14, 2019)
(735 words)
Dear ones,
It's April and here in the midst of magnolias and cherry blossoms, my favorite color became blue.
Have you ever found yourself falling in love with a whole new color? I don't just mean a new shade or subtle gradation of an old favorite. I mean did you ever look up one day and realize you had quite literally surrounded yourself—and been painting your life from—a whole different category on the color wheel?
For years my favorite colors have been soft natural shades of pink and warm gray. My closet is full of these colors. Every glassybaby I bought, my camera strap, my scarves, my iPhone...even my laptop is soft pink. I still love them. But in the last several months, blue keeps appearing. I've noticed it accumulating in my life, slowly and steadily, the way trust does.
Last autumn, deep in the thick of preparing for my court case and unable to write very much (other than legal statements and a bit of personal journaling), my wild mind needed a creative project to bring sanity back, and I decided to stain my dining room table. I attempted to treat the bare natural wood myself, envisioning a gorgeous weathered-gray look like in the magazines. But my homemade stain wound up making the table appear as though it had grown black mold—not a good look for a dining table.
My boyfriend took one look and said,
““Maybe paint it? Blue would be nice.””
The first thought I had to his sweetly delivered advice was, "Blue? Does he even know me? I don't have blue furniture. Obviously I'll be painting it gray and white."
I smiled and outloud what I said was, "That's an interesting idea. Thanks love, I'll think about it."
The table is calypso blue now with a hint of canary yellow showing through, and I absolutely love it. Something about those blue paint chips in the hardware store just called to me. I went in looking for grays and whites, and came out with blue.
After finishing the table, I bought a beautiful messy-heart painting by Seattle's beloved Kelly Rae Cunningham. It is also (mostly) blue. Then, I bought a blue cashmere sweater on clearance. Then blue cashmere fingerless gloves were marked down to half-price at Pharmaca and I came home with them. My friend Amanda brought me a pair of turquoise knee socks. Sarah gifted me an indigo journal with sea creatures on it for my birthday.
“What is going on? Where is this new color coming from? Why?”
I know blue is the color of truth. It is the color of our home, Earth's ocean is deep sea blue and we look like a sapphire from space. The sky is cerulean, a unique color created by a nitrogen-rich atmosphere that no other planet in our solar system has—even Neptune is only blue because of methane. Blue is the color I longed for last August when forest-fire smoke filled Seattle's skies for three weeks in a row. Blue is peace, calm, patience, cool, clear, life.
Okay, getting off blue for moment. You guys, I've so been busy in the last two weeks! Have you? It's April.
The energy of doing-so-many-things-all-at-once is definitely here. I am beyond grateful for my day job and the income it brings—but man do I long for days to dive deeply into Lucia and the creative ideas that keep coming and coming. Weekends are precious.
I've been thinking so much more about voice, like I wrote to you in March. I’ve been fantasizing about having delicious one-on-one conversations with inspiring people who are using their voices masterfully. I listen to Krista Tippett every week, and last Thursday I found myself scrolling through advice columns about podcasting and which are the best inexpensive microphones. I managed to catch myself halfway down that rabbit hole, crawled out, logged off, and went to bed.
But...who knows? It's April, and possibility and forward movement is infectious. Plus, I have a whole new favorite color—so change is constant, it is happening right before our eyes.
It dawned on me as I scribbled the beginnings of this missive to you (in my blue journal): Blue is also the color associated with the throat chakra—blue is the energetic color of voice.
Of course I'm falling in love with blue.
And you? How is April treating you?
Sending so much love,
Laura
P.S. Here’s my April Mixtape for you, inspired by indigo, sapphire, cerulean, aquamarine, cyan, sky blue, turquoise, ink, and navy. I really love this mix! All songs inspired by blue. I’ve been listening to it on repeat all weekend. April has always looked pink to me, with the blooms and spring sunrises, but this year it sounds brilliantly and refreshingly blue.
P.P.S. I'm reading Odes by Sharon Olds, it was part of my blue-journal-birthday gift from Sarah! Olds is a Pulitzer Prize winning poet, and this collection is delightful, mischievous, unconventional and wise. It includes Ode to the Tampon, Ode to the Clitoris, Ode to the Penis, Ode to My Fat, Ode to a Composting Toilet, and Ode to My Whiteness. I find her poems hilarious, healing, and beautiful and I highly recommend them. You can also listen to Sharon Old’s recent conversation with Krista Tippett about her work at (my very favorite podcast) OnBeing.
Laura Lowery is the founder, editor and publisher of Lucia. She does her best to lead a creative life. Whether triumphant or stumbling, Laura shares daily notes (that are often weekly) here on luciajournal, including stories, behind-the-scenes happenings, little doses of inspiration, and large quantities of curiosity and heart. She is pleased to meet you.