Balloon Flowers

My favorite flowers are blooming right now. And that right now means both that they are currently blooming and they are currently my favorite, until the next ones bloom.

Purple balloon flower. They are gloriously star shaped, but mostly I love how they open, like one of those paper secret keepers that a middle-school girl folds. Then it pops open to reveal the five silken petals.

Do you have a favorite flower blooming in your garden this time of year?

Iris

The iris are in bloom at my house. They seem to have jumped ahead all of a sudden, but that makes me happy.

What's blooming at your house?

The Color Purple

Purple is the color I look best in. I know this because every time I wear purple, and I mean every time, someone says, "That color looks great on you."
They don't say it when I wear red or pink or coral, other colors that I also think complement my coloring.
On Sunday, I was trying on shirts in the dressing room. I don't know about you, but I don't look in the mirror of the dressing room while I'm trying on the clothes. I wait until I get dressed then take a look. I put on a heather purple shirt with a vneck and some details around the v. I turned toward the mirror and my face seemed lit up. Wow. That color looks great on me, I thought.
I tried the exact same shirt on in a heather red and it didn't do anything for me. So I bought the purple.
Maybe I notice that people say I look good in purple because they don't see me wear it that often.
Now you're thinking, "Wait, if purple looks good on you, why don't you wear it very often?" It's because my mom co-opted the color purple when I was a sophomore in high school.
It seemed a small thing to give up.
When I was a sophomore, I was just coming out of my really bratty middle school phase. I began to enjoy being with my mother again. I'm not sure why I remember this so specifically, but we were walking in the Towne Mall in Middletown, Ohio, and we were probably shopping at Paul Harris. (Does anyone else remember that store?) We also frequented The Limited. And, at one of those places, we bought a wool skirt in three colors of purple, plus a solid purple cotton sweater for me.
My mom loved that outfit, and slowly, purple began to creep into her wardrobe too.
Now, many, many years after my sophomore year of high school, my mom wears purple everyday. Most everything in her closet is purple or goes with purple. She was known as the lady who wears purple long before it became the popular color for retired women to wear.
I never take any purple clothes with me when I go to visit my mom in Florida. If I were to wear purple, her friends would definitely comment on the fact that I'm just like my mother. So I avoid purple most of the time, but sometimes it creeps into my wardrobe, and I don't mind at all when people say I look just like my mother, whether I wear purple or not.

Tickled Purple

I picked Tucker up from school as he walked along the sidewalk. Spotting him was easy in his bright purple shirt that he got at a swim meet last month.
He heaved his backpack onto the floor of the car and climbed in. As he buckled he asked, "Did you know today was wear purple to support gay teens day?"
"Oh..." I said. I wasn't sure if he felt happy or dismayed.
"Yeah, and I just got lucky. I didn't plan it or anything," he said.
"So you were okay with wearing purple in support of gay teens?" I asked.
"Of course, why wouldn't I be? It's not like I'm afraid people will think I'm gay. I mean, I'm obviously not."
As much as that boy drives me crazy, sometimes I'm really proud of him.
He isn't afraid to do what he thinks is right and he doesn't spend his first year in high school worrying about what other people think of him.