Grey Can’t Stay
Written by Ruth Holmes

Once upon a time, a little boy lived on the outskirts of a big city. He wasn’t sure why but each morning he woke up in a gray mood. As he lay in bed he stretched his arms and stretched his legs then grumpily kicked off his blanket and sent it to the floor.” Hmph!” He mumbled to himself as he sat up.

Every morning he opened his big eyes and blinked without much thought. Then he lazily glanced out his window. “Hmph!” All he saw was a gray, cold, and cloudy day. He felt gray, so it made perfect sense that everything else must be gray too! After all, he was the artist creating his day.

As he stood in the middle of his bedroom he glumly looked around. His world was gray. His blanket was gray. His pillow was gray. His pajamas and slippers were gray. All his clothes hanging in his closet were gray. The walls were gray. Even his cat cozily curled into a fuzzy ball in a corner of his bedroom was gray! His morning was just a huge gray blob. “Gray, gray” he grumpily mumbled to himself. After all, he was the artist creating his day.

Now with his shoulders slumped and his head hanging down the little boy slowly walked to his gray kitchen to eat his breakfast. He stomped down the gray stairs. Stomp, stomp, stomp!  He shuffled to the gray kitchen table, crossed his arms, and plopped himself down on the gray kitchen chair with a big thud just like a big sack of gray sand.” Hmph!” was all he could say. After all, he was the artist creating his day.

He sat with his head cradled in his hands and without moving his head, only moving his eyes he lazily glanced out the kitchen window not really looking for anything in particular. The color palette he held in his thoughts was unnoticed.  Out of the corner of his right eye, something moved. It was tiny and it was red. It drew his attention. He straightened a bit and stretched his neck to look again. He blinked his eyes and spied a tiny red bird that sat perched on a tree branch directly in front of the kitchen window. The tiny red bird was happily sitting and for some odd reason looking directly at him.

He sat up and watched as the tiny red bird hopped around on the branch and cheerfully chirped outside.  The little boy was fascinated.  It was so very cold outside. Long icicles hung from the leaves and puffy white snow blanketed everything else. But the tiny red bird didn’t mind at all.  As the little boy watched a slight breeze blew the tiny red bird off the branch. But the tiny red bird quickly recovered. He floated on the breeze making it into a game and then landed back on the branch, still happy. The tiny little red bird had made a choice to enjoy the moment. After all, he was the artist creating his day.

The little boy sat looking at the tiny red bird and was intrigued. “Why was the little bird happy outside in the cold?  Shouldn’t he be sad? Did the tiny red bird decide to be happy? Did the tiny red bird choose to see the best in any situation he found himself in? Hmm,” the little boy thought.

 As the little boy sat at the window a bright shining sliver of sunshine barely peaked gently out of the gray clouds, just long enough to land on the little boy’s nose! He immediately felt the warmth of the sunshine and then for some unknown reason realization hit him right smack in the head. He was in control. How he began his day was his choice. He could start his day grumpy and in a gray mood or decide to be happy and have a good attitude.  He controlled his view and whether he looked forward to what he might get to do each day.  “If the tiny red bird can be happy…. then so can I” he said to himself. Now the little boy felt better. He felt confident. He felt good because he had a plan. He felt his body bursting with happiness and joy from his head down to each of his toes. He was excited.  He thought of his color palette and realized that he could choose any colors he wanted to fill his day. After all, he was the artist creating his day.

He got up from the table and stood tall, straighten his shoulders. He confidently looked at the tiny red bird and decided then and there… he was going to be happy and not grumpy. “I am happy, and I have a great day ahead “he confidently announced to himself. He created a huge smile and even showed his pearly white teeth too. He would create the best of whatever came his way. He felt stronger, happier, and even taller. Now, everywhere he looked there was the color. Not only was the tiny bird red but the trees outside were brown, green, copper, and gold. The sky was blue, the snow was not just white but perfectly cotton white, and the icicles hung like silver threads. Everything around him had color. He looked down at his shoes and they were red, his shirt was blue, “oh, this is so much better “he thought. He looked at his gray cat and was surprised his cat wasn’t gray at all but orange with four very cute little white paws and sky-blue eyes.

The little boy realized that he could make a choice to be happy or grumpy and the choice came from inside of him. He could decide how he would start his day. He could fill his life with amazing colors and adventures and he just had to decide within himself to enjoy everything that was offered to him every day. He would try to find something good in everything. After all, he was the artist creating his day.

The little boy now understood he was in control of his choice. He would choose to enjoy his day and whatever happened he would find something to be happy about. It may not always be a perfect day and that was fine, but he would look for something good and that search would definitely be fun.  He now could see the different colors in the day and gray was not there. The gray would not stay. Life would be much more colorful because his palette was filled with lots and lots of colors and he was the artist creating his day.

The End.