Mom met me at the door in the red sandals we’d ordered over the internet. I love my shoes, she said. I smiled. Of all the things I miss about her encroaching disease, I miss the absence of her black belt shopper. On my feet were red workout shoes, seen when I was looking for something else, and bought because I wanted the shoe, not the color. The minute I had strapped them on, I’d felt like dancing. For years, I’ve pretty much confined myself to black or brown shoes as more practical. But I feel like being a smarty pants with these shoes on. I kept staring at my feet, the way kids do when they have on shoes they really like. Mom did the same thing. We were the red shoe girls.
Cardinal, cherry, claret, blood, crimson, strawberry, wine, blush, rose, carmine, carnelian, flame, scarlet, poppy, ruby……all the shadings the come near to expressing the happiness a color can bring.
Karleen Koen — writing life 