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Good Morning. Here is a great thought for the day:

MAKING PURPLE

It had been a week. One of those weeks where around every corner is a new problem, another challenge, a new worry. It was Thursday afternoon in the art studio, 30 minutes into my after-school art class, when there was a knock on the door. I opened it to find a woman and her grandson.

"Hi," she said. "My daughter said to bring Travis over today to start art classes. Sorry we're late."

A new student? I didn't remember Travis's mom mentioning that he would be starting today. No matter. I welcomed the little boy into the class and gave him a set of watercolors.

"We're painting today," I told him, "Whatever you like."

He thought for a moment, smiled, and began painting. As I watched him, my mind drifted back to the week's latest problems. Finances topped the list with home repairs running a close second. Suddenly, Travis stopped painting. His head shot up, a look of pure wonder on his face.

"I made purple!" he exclaimed. "It's my favorite color and I made it!" He was enchanted as only a six-year-old could be. He had experienced the magic of being able to create. His delight was contagious and soon the other children became busy with mixing paint to see what new colors they could create.

"Can you make purple?" he asked me.

"Yes, I can," I replied. "But not nearly as magnificent as your purple."

"I like my purple." He smiled, satisfied.

How wonderful, I thought, to be that young again when being able to mix the color purple makes your whole day. It was at that moment that I realized that age has little to do with simple pleasures and what really matters. No, maybe I can't make ends meet, or repairs happen, or get people to like me, but damn I can make purple! And green, and aqua, and magenta and any other color I wish to think up. We all can. And as long as we can do that, we get to create the world in which we choose to live. The ability to create is an unmatched power that no one can take away from us. From growing a simple garden to designing an entire city, we have the power to make something from nothing.

Have a wonderful day.

"Each morning is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. You can waste it or use it for good. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it. When the sun rises tomorrow this day will be gone forever, in its place will be something you have left — may it be something good. Follow your heart, it knows what to do."

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