By JACK GODBEY

It seems as though everyone has their own favorite colors. 

For me, there is nothing like a beautiful blue sky to bring calm to an otherwise stressful world. In fact, anything blue makes me joyous and brings a smile to my face.

Color brings life to so many things, and like most children I learned what these colors were very early on. When I started school, I was pleased to receive the big box of crayons that every kid desired. You know the one. They come with every color under the sun included and the sharpener in the back of the box. 

At Highland Elementary School in 1974, this was known as the Cadillac of crayons and every kid wanted them. It was due to this big box of crayons that I learned that burnt orange and raw sienna were actual real colors. 

As an adult, colors play a larger role in our lives than just trying to stay within the lines of a colored picture. Colors also play a role in our emotions and as a result our language as well. 

For example, we may describe someone as being “green with envy” or when we are depressed, we may be feeling “blue”. 

For some reason it’s OK to tell a “white” lie as opposed to any other color lie I suppose. If we are discussing our finances, we are either in the “black” or “red” and if that scares us then we are considered “yellow”.

There are some colors that appear to have even been assigned a gender as well. Most men I know would never wear a pink item of clothing as this color is considered by many to be feminine. It’s as if we are afraid our testosterone level will magically lower if we did. 

I’ll be the first to admit that there are some colors that I still to this day have no idea what they are. When it comes to colors like coral or fuchsia, I might as well be colorblind. They just don’t exist in my world. 

Some people interestingly enough, have colors in their name. Parents will name their babies beautiful names such as Violet or Rose and I even heard somewhere that some celebrity and his wife named their baby Blue. 

Colors have always been a part of my life and none more so than when I was a small child. I had a favorite pair of pants that I referred to as my “Rainbow Britches.” Looking back, they were just a tie-dyed pair of pants that had numerous colors splashed across the fabric, but to me they were magical and I wore them at every opportunity. 

Since it was the early 1970s these tie-dyed pants also kept me looking fashionable. 

I was devastated when I took a growth spurt and the pant legs came up past my ankles. The pants went in the laundry one day but mysteriously never came out. I was told that the pants went to live on a farm and someday I might be able to visit them. 

I found the pants many years later in my mother’s closet safe and sound. They now don’t even fit around my arm, but I still have those magical pants and I get them out from time to time on stressful days to remind me of a simpler time. 

While I might dress like an adult now with all sorts of over-priced clothes, I assure you that in my mind I am still wearing my “Rainbow Britches.”