I assume those of you with television (not just streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Roku) have seen the Lowe’s commercial where the mother walks in to the son painting his bedroom. She says “what color did you decide to paint your room?” The narrator says, “when you realize any color you want, does not really mean ANY color.”

That commercial makes me both giggle and tear up, usually simultaneously. When Connor was a Freshman he decided the nursery balloons painted on his walls needed to go. Mark and I are notoriously bad procrastinators when it comes to painting, so that color scheme had been there since Kyle was a baby.

Connor’s color choice was orange, not sherbet orange, but, Kubota Tractor ORANGE, with the ceiling painted the same color. I really think his room emitted a glow it was so bright. It surely wasn’t my color choice, but my thought process was this, it is paint, he can change it when Kubota Tractor Orange isn’t his thing, and it could be black.

It took Kilz primer over those balloons and 2 coats of that orange to cover everything. Surprisingly enough the oranges and reds don’t cover like you think they would. He was thrilled when he was done, my 88 year old father in law was less than impressed. The trend of bright paint, and the same color on the walls and ceiling completely flummoxes him! But Connor loved it and that is all that mattered to me.

By the time the middle of his Sophomore year had rolled around his room was a dark blue, with a white ceiling. Think FCTS Blue, because it is just paint, easily changed on a whim, with a weekend to spare. I wish life was like that, give me a weekend to spare and put everything back to the way it was. Unfortunately life doesn’t work like that. So I will cherish the memories of nursery balloons covered by Kubota Tractor orange paint!