There is a place where magic is real....

I know Walt Disney thinks that sentence belongs to him, and refers to DisneyLand and DisneyWorld. As a child, magic was hidden in plain sight in a box of new crayons.*VBS* Even at age 66, it's exciting to put a new box of Crayola Crayons in my shopping cart. They come in many box sizes, these days. 100 crayon deluxe packs, and the huge almost unobtainable 96 crayons in unimagined colores, a nice hefty but quite reasonable 48, and my personal favorite, 24. Of course as a very young child, we only got the 8 pack. Just the basics, but filled with possibilities.

I was a lucky child, for even tho there was little money to spare in our household, new crayons and maybe a color book were fairly readily gotten. I had paperdolls and comic books, jacks and jump ropes and pick up sticks. That was pretty much the extend of easily gotten goodies. Birthdays or Christmas often provided me with a new holster and six shooter, or a new cowgirl hat. Needless to say, I was a tomboy, riding about the neighborhood on my imaginary horse...much to my mother's embarassment(largely due to my "sound effects").
Crayons and such were for hot summer afternoons in those early years of Polio. Children were kept inside, well shaded and cool in the deep heat of summer afternoon. Whether I had a coloring book or a pad of paper, I was happy. I spent long, long hours coloring things as I felt they should be colored, or imagined they might be..*VBS*
Altho there are many, many childhood pictures of me, I have come across none of me while I was lost in my coloring. And it's a pity. It would have much more to say about the child, than the posed pictures . I like to color sitting in a chair, mostly, and with my head resting on my left arm as I watched my right hand creating new magic daily with color crayons.

Of course, I outgrew the jacks and jump ropes, the paperdolls,and coloring books. As the grades of school grew in number, I was exposed to "ART" and the many supplies that are available to use in creating. Crayons lost their luster, replaced by artist pastel chalks, pen and ink, and eventually oil paints. Our schools offered little in the way of art back then, but whatever was offered, I was there to take part . I pursued it in college, and beyond.....no crayons in my life any more. It never occurred to me how much joy a simple thing can bring.
At 27 I became a mom, and by 30, there were crayons in my life again. They stayed a part of my life for the next 15 years. By that time all of the children were through elementary and busy with what teenagers do... and the crayons languished in the a large decorative cannister, ready for use, but neglected. Eventually the cannister became a door stop, crayons still tucked inside. With grandchildren, you'd think I could press those crayons into use again, but as fate would have it,none of my DGC live close enough to visit regularily. I eventually gave away the tin of crayons and put one new 24 count box in the cupboard, just in case.To Be Continued...............