Colour Association - Red

            Red. It is the colour of blood, and a colour of love. It is also a colour on the American, German, Australian, and British flags. Consciously, red is just a colour, however, subconsciously it is a symbol of who I am.

            Growing up I always answered the common question, “what is your favourite colour?” with green. It was a colour I saw everywhere for years. But when my family moved to Germany, I started answering with red. A few years before I moved, my dad was deployed to Iraq, from where he sent my sister and I red carnations for Valentine’s day. The year I moved, my cheerleading coach gave me red nail polish, my grandmother gave me a red shirt, and my friend gave me a red journal for the Fourth of July, just a day before we left America. The flag for my three favourite countries: England, Australia, and the United States all possess the colour red. The flag of Germany, my new home for the next three years to come also contained a stripe of red.

            Red, for me, is also a colour of home. My mom has always like the old – Americana theme, so scattered about our house in every room, like a disease, is something red. A blanket atop the couch, a picture of soldiers a shelf, a flag hanging proudly outside, or a wall ornament strung with precision, something red. Before, red was just a colour, the answer to a simple question. Looking back now, that was never the case. Red was never just an answer. It was always more complex than that. Red is the colour of my life, those I love, and my home. Red is the colour of me.