The Colors of My Life by Morgan Rohloff

In my 85 years, color has consumed my memory. It started with red. That little piece of mama’s hair that tickled my face as she kissed me good night. In those days we were happy, despite having so little. It was just Mama, Papa and I. Then my little brother was born, our hearts grew but our apartment grew smaller. It was in those very early years in my life that I discovered that every moment had millions of colors…. The blue and silver glow of the moon on the windows, the varying greys of the cobblestone streets. The soft pastels of Mama’s dresses. But life is a rainbow before it’s black and white. In my 6th year, things started to change, shifting to yellow. Even now I can never wear that color; I still remember the day I came home to Mama sewing the star onto my clothes. Innocence took the best of me, thinking it was a game…little did I know. Yellow turned to green one day. A woman showed up at our door, Mama said Peter and I were to go with her for a while. Next thing I knew we had been driven to a little hut in the depths of the forest. The woman was called Eva, she was short and plump and had a mighty temper, but cared for us none the less. There were three other children as well; I could never remember their names. Winter was grey that year and all the years after that. But summer, summer was the bluest of blues. I would spend the day in the forest, pretending that I was a fairy princess. Laying in the grass I felt like I was dancing in the clouds and that nothing could scare or hurt me. But at the end of every day, I would go back to the cabin, the fairy princess would go away… And the colors too. For 6 years my brother and I lived in that tiny cabin, constantly being told to forget our old life. The world had slipped into black and white and grey. I was just becoming a woman when we left the woods; the Americans took us to Mama. I ran to her and cried as if I were that 6-year-old girl again. I still remember…..Mama was so thin and looked as if she had not seen the sun since I left. After years of asking, I learnt that she had his too…..in a basement for 5 years. Color shifts and changes, We left Germany for America three days before my 13th birthday. I went to school and fell in love, became a nurse and had children of my own. Hannah and Elizabeth are my pride and joy. They grew and married, my youngest Granddaughter is to be married tomorrow. I still remember my colors, my rainbow of thoughts and feelings. Will you remember yours?