Lavender

My parents divorced when I was 9 years old. My mother used her monthly child support check to hire a series of live-in housekeepers. Eventually she found Stella Miller, who lived with us Sunday night through Friday evening for more than 10 years.

I bring this up because lavender was her favorite color, and I remember that one year she asked my mother if she could paint her room lavender.

When we finished, her room looked exactly the color of these flowers. I loved Mrs. Miller, but this was just a horrible color to paint a 12-foot by 10-foot room. I was always claustrophobic whenever I entered her room.

As some sort of counterbalance, my mother painted the room I shared with my brother a startling bright yellow. I mean, really startling bright yellow. My room faced east and you needed sunglasses in the morning when the sun reached the windows.

Anyway I dedicate these lavender flowers to Mrs. Miller.





Day 128 of 365