Shades of Red - Part One

- life-granting color; worn by brides and babies (Asian definition of Red)

Red is the most striking color, and for me, it is a color that bombarded my life over the past two years. Chenlu entered my life two years ago and I have not been the same since. A woman from the Red Country of China, as pure and simple as China can get, reached through my layers of emotions and grabbed my heart, or rather, my heart grabbed her. With Shades of Red, I choose to write about me falling in love with Chenlu and our relationship as we journey down a road less taken.

I tried to sleep as my head slouched against the car window and I winced at the sound of our taxi driver's horn. His way of politely telling the motor scooter to move away. We passed hundreds of motor scooters that day, as we did everyday, returning from a factory visit. We were tired and borderline car sick from the roller coaster movements and the lack of fresh air. The road straightened for a bit, and the motor scooters were too far to see. The car smoothed out its bumps and I sat up to wonder why. I looked over to my right, and Chenlu lay still against the car door. I paused, and noticed that she was the most beautiful woman I have ever seen. In the dregs of a long, traveling day, in and out of dirty factories, with quick meals and little sleep the night before, this was hardly a woman's ideal moment to shine. But, she shined brilliantly.

"What?" she said in her soothing accent that made her English fun to listen to. "What are you looking at?" I explained that at that very moment, with a tired mind and body and without much thought, that I wanted to grow old with her. In my forty plus years on earth, I have never had a thought about growing old with someone and I saw that with her. I explained that I can imagine her old with me and how incredibly beautiful she will remain in my eyes.

Like many of our conversations and interactions between each other, translation can be lost. In this case, she thought I was saying that she looked old. She didn't take my comments as a compliment or even fancied the idea of growing old together. It was like a drop of water hitting a well waxed car hood, it just rolled off. But that moment was not for her, it was for me. The moment I was granted a life of love.

The taxi swerved a little, and honked his horn again. I leaned my head against the inside of the car, and closed my eyes. This time with a little smile on my face.