Blue

I live in a bright blue bungalow in a rising sea of pristine white houses. White walls, white shutters, white doors. New, big, unsullied. It’s a trend, I hear. My thousand-square-foot cottage is cheek-by-jowl with one of these 3,000 square foot behemoths. Another one is going up across the street and three more have replaced smaller homes that were demolished to make way for Big and Bigger. When the time came to repaint my house, I chose aqua. Very aqua.

I realized how much my street was changing (and me with it) when mid-way through the process I started worrying about what the neighbors would think. My spirit was being white-washed, just like my neighborhood. I had to remind myself that blue is the soul-deep color of sky, sea, twilight, my tattoo, turquoise and lapis lazuli, the saddest songs, the virgin’s robe, the ceiling of Heaven and David Hockney pools. And that there’s a reason my house has always been called the Happy Shack.

Nikki Hardin is a writer of stories, musings, and memories. Her poetry has been published in Riverteeth Journal. Most recently, she was the founder and publisher of skirt!, a monthly women’s magazine in Charleston, South Carolina. You can reach her at nikki@thedailynikki.com.