“Will you color with me?” asked Sylvan.

“Not right now, I’m going to go do…”

something important.

I went to do something I needed to do, didn’t I?

Oh no.

What a glorious invitation I passed on today.

I could have colored!

I never color anymore.

I saw I wasn’t good at coloring, so I stopped.

Growing up is dangerous like that.

It’s so easy to confuse the serious with the important

or the skillfull with the valuable.

Sylvan wanted to color while Leo played in a cardboard box

and Violette carefully balanced a pillow on her head.

How silly they are. How wonderfully, worshipfully, beautifully silly!

But me?

Well, I had to do something important.

by Nathan Bubna