How would one describe the color blue without using the word blue? When you smash cake into your face on your first birthday it is the coloration of your laugh. On the first day of kindergarten it is the name of your new best friend. It is the first time you fly your fingers over piano keys. When you stay awake late reading it is the color of letters burned into the back of your brain. The drip of watercolors on a flowing canvas. It is feeling the chill of ocean crests against warm skin, the cold at the tips of your ears when you say I love you, and the color that is streaked down your cheeks after your first heartbreak. When you are painting your unborn baby’s room it is the tone of paint swatches and rollers. It is the shade of the day you send your own kids off to start their lives. The sparkle in your eyes when the grandkids come to visit. It is the hue of the machines they have you hooked up to now and the IV in your arm. When you finally let go, it is the color of your last breath.