January 16, 2022
GREEN
I lived in community with a guy who loved to do jigsaw puzzles. I thought he was wasting his time. I didn’t say my thoughts out loud.
In time I heard things from him like: “It’s a great way to relax.”
One day he said, “I think of things I never thought about before I started to do these puzzles.”
“For example?” I asked.
“I never noticed the variations and shades of green there are.”
Then he added, “Now when I’m driving down the highway I see all sorts of green – all kinds of shades of green – and often it depends on what time of the day it is."
Green ….
After that comment I began to notice all sorts of green.
Green is just an abstraction.
In the specific, there is the green of grapes and the green of apples and tomatoes before they are ripe.
There’s the green of indoor plants – the ones with speckled yellow green leaves.
How about a Sansevieria plant - also known as snake plants and "Mother-in-law's tongue"? They have a good variety of greens.
I never noticed the different shades of green in advertisements. Red, yes. Blue, yes. Yellow yes. Green, no.
Now it’s usually green.
That was a while back when this about green happened. Then came the moment. It was a Sunday morning. It was raining. I had a window seat. The plane I was on came over the waters. There was Ireland. Rocks. Fields. There was the place I never saw before – the place where my mom and dad were born and grew up. There was Shannon airport.
I got off and saw a hundred shades of green – especially wet green grass.
I wondered all week why they left here and came to the United States as Green Horns.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2022
