CHANGING COLORS

CHANGING COLORS

The heat of summer is beginning to be felt. Dust is everywhere and inhaling it always triggers in me an allergic reaction that keeps me coughing day and night. In front of the terrace where I am I could see the bloom of the Japanese bougainvillea fading and withering, the reason why the hummingbirds are away looking for sweeter nectar somewhere else.

Leaves of trees are calmly falling in multicolor while young ones are sprouting giving a baby-green fresh look to the dusty plants. Meanwhile I noticed that the ‘sampagita’ vines are blooming tremendously showing a white veil all over the top of the old wall where they are climbing.

The aging big cactus plant near the garden sink is also showing blooms of varied color from pale pink to yellow and red and dark purple. What used to be deeply colored birds of paradise blooms are now pale and looking thirsty because indeed they are.

Summer is a strong color changer. Gone are the morning birds happily chirping among the flowers. I wonder where they all go for their foods.

A day ago my wife and I were talking about our lives. She lamented that our lives were like the leaves falling from the mother tree. “But look”, I countered, “Even the falling leaf could remain very beautiful as it falls down”.

I was trying to emphasize to her the importance of growing old gracefully. Because I believe that even in old age what really counts is how you are remembered depending on the kind of image that you projected last.