Stay inside the lines

When you're at your breaking point at the end of a long week, or the day just hasn't lived up to a way you would have liked, what do you do? What does someone do to relax and just come down from their frustrations. We all have our little secrets for ways to relax and stimulate our mind in order to become less angry, frustrated, pissed off. So what do I do? It starts with my Grandma Barrett. Oh Grandma, the women who cured my frustrations and crappy weeks. It all happened years ago, sitting in my grandmas living room. As she sat in her recliner chair with all of her odds and ends surrounding her she would reach down by her chair and reach out to what would only turn out to be one of my first loves..Coloring books, "all the coloring books the world could ever supply" I thought to myself. She would color and color and color until she finished her picture, and that was a rule! you had to finish what you started. I remember just sitting next to her and watching as she stayed inside the lines, and the hair on my head would stand up, that was the greatest feeling ever. But I couldn't just WATCH, I had to see what this phenomenon was all about. She handed me a book and she asked me what utensil I wanted, and with that I was on my way coloring in a Dick Tracy book that I had hand selected from the Barrett Coloring Book library. I was hooked you guys, coloring relaxes my mind in a way that nothing else will ever be able to do...maybe that's just because it brings back the memories that I will carry for a lifetime or because it's just fun ( as long as I stay in between the lines ) Not everyone has ways of getting away, meditating or relaxing, and that's too bad because I think we all need that little something when our day just isn't panning out. To this day I still color, and I have converted many talented coloring artists. So the journey continues, and I fight on...And I will pass it along to my kids and my grand kids. I want to encourage everyone to think about the things that make you happy or that relax you, and do them..because no matter how ridiculous you might feel doing it, I promise you won't get any of the looks like I've gotten when I pull out my coloring book and my bag full of pens, crayons, gel pens and coloring pencils. So with that I want to thank Dick Tracy, my brilliant mind, and most certainly my Grandma Barrett...Coloring saved my life ( a little over the top I know but it could be true )