It was all yellow.

San Antonio, that is, according to one of my students.  He said he thinks that every place has a color and while where he's from in Connecticut is green, San Antonio is yellow.  I can see where he's coming from there. 

Yes, the grass is all yellow-looking now, thanks to the drought, but there's also the sunshine and a certain brightness about the place.  Moving here from DC, where everyone is perpetually dressed in black, brown, gray, or navy, I noticed right away that people here dress in bright colors (I think no matter how long I live here, I'll still stick closer to the DC palate.) and there's also just a certain fiesta vibe about the place that has a bright yellow feel to it.

When I got back from Europe, I bought three photo albums in green, red, and blue (sort of a cornflower/periwinkle, really).  Italy went in red, France in blue, Germany/Czech Republic/Switzerland in green.  I don't remember putting any real thought into those choices, but they all make perfect sense to me. 

Vegas, to me is an easy one: gold, all garish and glittery.  Madison, I am thinking of as light blue.  It's the sky and the lakes and sort of a general clean simplicity.  But it's also a frosty shade for, let us not forget, I damn near froze to death there.

All of this reminds me too of Elizabeth Gilbert being told in Eat, Pray, Love that every city has a word that sums it up.  Rome's word, she is told, is sex.  She decides that New York would have to be a verb, like achieve.  This causes her to set out to find the word that is her.  It turns out to be a word in another language that I don't remember and am not going to find for you since I have yet to unpack my books.  You'll just have to live with suspense, I suppose, unless you've read the book or just really don't care.

Because I am terribly self-involved, all of this makes me consider what my color and word would be.  The color was fairly easy to choose.  I think I'd be a shade of blue-gray.  Mellow, yet indecisive.  I've been told that my element (of earth, air, water, or fire) is water because I appear tranquil, but there's a lot going on in the depths that can't be seen from the surface.  So I wouldn't be that brilliant aqua shade of the Caribbean that lets you see all the way to the bottom.  More like the steel blue of the Atlantic off the beach I used to visit in North Carolina, I think.  Somewhat impenetrable.

But I don't know about my word.  It has been easy for me to choose for other people.  For Katie, I first chose driven, but then realizing that she, like New York, needed a verb, I decided on strive instead.  Katie seemed agreeable to my choice.  When I told my friend Krystal that I thought her word was sunshine, she said that Sunshine was a nickname of hers with some people I don't know.  So, while I'm not sure if it's the one word she'd choose for herself, I have to think that means I wasn't too far off.

I've been trying out words for myself, but nothing seems quite right.  Please don't say that this makes my word indecisive.  I can't quite bring myself to accept that.  I think I just haven't quite struck on the right word yet.  I'll keep searching the recesses of my vocabulary and let you know if I come up with anything.

In the meantime, tell us what your color and word are.  Also, please tell us why you chose them.  And if you have an idea for my word, by all means, enlighten us.