What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite color?

My son asks me this question 3 or 4 times a week as he wakes up and begins his day.

It's one of our little rituals.

When he first began to ask, I answered my usual favorite color. Over time I found my pat answer beginning to shift.

I look around and notice the color of the sky, the mug I am holding, the color of his hair, his sisters pajamas, and with a smile share my favorite color in this moment. When I answer it begins a deeper discussion and I share why I chose the color I did, what feelings it evokes, or what it reminds me of.

The yellow of his hair reminds me of the color of tall, dry grasses in the fall and I smile as I touch his head. And then he shares with me.