Pink
by Rowan Schulde
Pink is the color of Valentine's Day.
Pink is the color of that innocent love you knew as kids, the love you see when a boy gives a lollipop to the girl he likes, or when a girl gives a friend who she knows is struggling a flower or two to let her know that she is loved.
Pink is also the color of elderly love: the couple sitting on a park bench, watching the sky turn pink then orange, then dark blue as the sun sets behind the hill across the river.
Pink is the color of the dog's tongue as his best friend of his whole life pours him another bowl of kibble because that pink tongue of unconditional love keeps him going.
Pink is the color of the heart on the card that my best friend's mom sent him. The card that she sent because she couldn't be there to give him a hug from 5 states, 500 miles away from where he goes to school. But still that pink love between mother and son exists.
Pink is the color of her lips that she used to kiss me this morning. The same lips that would have taken the pink tablet like she always does if she hadn’t forgotten. But she did forget. I stare at the pink hair elastic on her desk as I reflect on our day. The pink in our cheeks from the racing each other in the park earlier, bright pink noses from walking to lunch in the cold. The pink slushie I bought her at Speedway for lunch dessert. But I still remember the pink Google logo as she looked up the name of that pink pill, wondering why she felt off. The pink of her eyes becoming bloodshot from crying, not for the first time today. Looking across the room at her pink backpack as she cried on my shoulder after learning the pink pill was an anti-depressant, thinking there was something wrong with her. I tried to console her, reminding her of our love, the pink of my lips kissing her forehead, telling her there’s nothing wrong with her, loving her the most pink love way I could.
Pink is the color of the book bag jibbit on her Crocs beneath the table on which I write this.
Pink is the color of my eyes as they well with tears wondering how I can be better, make her pink filled life more full of that pink love that is all around us.