Highlighters

 When can a highlighter give you an allergy attack? It can on October 9, 2012, or potentially any other day when circumstances are conducive to such things.

This is what my planner looks like. I write down things I want to accomplish in a certain day. As I finish, I highlight them. Right now, I am using a pink pen and a pink highlighter. "Why pink?" you ask. Because I don't like pink, I am using them up.

This is the highlighter that I was using because I couldn't find the pink one I've been using. The act of looking for the pink one and resigning myself to using this one brought on the allergy attack.

This is the pink one. Laura found it on the counter. I'd looked twice.

This is my old planner. See the green highlights? Daniel gave me that highlighter (and a blue one) for Christmas in 2010. I was using the green because he gave it to me and I thought of him every time I did. I used it a lot.

Do you see how much lighter it is here? I'd been using it A LOT. This was during the summer semester. I was hurrying to get done so we could go on our trip to Idaho and California. The ink was disappearing.

This is the blue highlighter that Daniel gave me with the green one. I have only used it a few times and it has lots of ink in it.

If I hold the highlighter do I feel closer to Daniel? In a very real way, I do. I think of the thought that went into the purchase (which I know about because Laura was with him at Staples) of it. I remember how he deliberated over everything that he purchased that year. He had so much money and had figured out exactly how much he could spend on each person. He was so happy when he found things for his younger siblings and Ryan for less than he'd allotted. He wasn't sure what to get for Paul (he is very hard to shop for) and finally settled on a gift certificate for ironing shirts for Sunday. Daniel ironed his own shirt every Sunday morning before church.

Like this one.

This little exercise has just been an example of the many things that can begin a certain thought process. It is absolutely amazing how almost anything has the ability, depending upon the mood I am in, to start a though process that leads me to Daniel. I have no desire to change this. In fact, I like to roll with it because sometimes I am led to memories that have been tucked away and their resurfacing helps to keep them alive.