I would love for you to travel back in time with me to when I was in kindergarten.

Ms. Lambase (not sure of spelling) was my teacher at an elementary school I attended for one year. I was meant to meet and have her as a teacher. A true “life” teacher. She was tall and had long, straight dark hair and I see her in a skirt, nylons and a sweater of some sort. I know this story well since I had asked my Dad to tell me numerous times when I was younger. This story is a light on my path always popping back into my memory right when I need it.

The Story

My part of this story involves Ms. Lambase having me color a picture out of a coloring book. Seems simple, right?

The picture I chose had a dog in it and I think it was a poodle. I don’t remember any other part of the picture, just the dog. I had the box of crayons in front of me and I chose it, the color for my dog, PINK. Picking this color caused a chain reaction. All I knew was I picked the color my heart wanted.

What happened next was my parents were called in to meet with my teacher for a conference. I don’t remember Ms. Lambase saying anything to me. Anyway, my parents went in to meet with her. She explained the situation with a tone of concern and carefully pulled out the picture I had colored.

Visualize with me: Can’t you just see the page ripped out of the coloring book, feel the coloring book paper, the black outlines of all the pictures and my beautiful coloring job?

My dad looked at the picture as my teacher pointed out my grave mistake.

“She colored the dog pink!” she said. “Dogs aren’t pink.”

My dad sat there for a moment. Then he looked at the teacher and said these words,

“You had me take time off from work to have me come in here so you could tell me my daughter colored the dog pink? She can color that dog any color she wants!”

Why is this story important to me?

I like to think that maybe Ms. Lambase challenged her own stories and beliefs around the color a dog can be colored, challenged what she perceived to be “normal”. More importantly though this story shows and reminds me of who I am and how my parents, for the most part, supported me in being that someone who can color the dog any color she wants. They gave me permission to be ME.

This story also reminds me that I can color the dog pink and all will be ok, that there will be one person that gets me, that understands what I am saying.

My journey has taken many twists and turns and this one little memory has traveled with me through all of it. This one action has been a metaphor to me my whole life…it has magic but it is not a fairy tale…It is my rock, that mantra I can come back to again and again when I’ve strayed from my hearts song, strayed from alignment. It has come back to me when I’ve surrendered and was on my knees during many different life challenges. I use it to remind myself, because you see, many along my path wanted to tell me there were rules of how I should talk and be, and sometimes I allowed myself to believe them. But…

Today and everyday, I call on the magic of this memory to remember who I am and that I am not afraid to color the dog pink…and today I am…if you need that someone…

GIVING YOU ALL PERMISSION TO COLOR THE DOG PINK!

P.s. My favorite color is still pink!

P.s.s. Check out our film (@leighorne), More Than Enough! A message near and dear to my heart. If resonates with you, please share.

Join my email list.