“What is your favorite color, Ryan?”
My mother asked me this when I was a little boy around the early 2000s… I remember responding quite enthusiastically with “Green!” But… wait… there are multiple shades of green… which green could it be? Chartreuse, lime, emerald, pickle, sage, seaweed, sea foam, evergreen, shamrock, mint, parakeet, pine, pistachio, basil, crocodile, juniper… which green did I like the most? Good question. I fondly recall really enjoying the forest green shade. However, I also remember (well, this also still happens today…) being asked whenever we saw different types of green whether I liked it.
“Ryan, look at the car on the left that’s about to pass us, would you like that color of green?” “Ryan, do you like limes because of the green color?”
The first time I wore tear away basketball warm up pants (you know, the ones the NBA wears), they were a dark green as well. When I was old enough to have a room remodel, I got to choose the paint color. Can you guess what basic color I chose to start with? Yep, my room is mint green.
“Why ‘forest green’ as your favorite, though?”
Forest or “grass” green is my favorite shade for the very reason I said as a child. Because it’s everywhere. Wherever I go, I know I can find that color. It’s the one constant in my life I know I can count on for familiarity. I used this as a way to keep me happy when we traveled. I used it on my “sleepaway” camp in sixth grade, where I spent a week alone without family. In a sense, the green of grass is my way of associating home away from home. Wherever life takes me, I know I have a way to ensure I won’t get too homesick.
