His Favorite Color Was Blue

Last week, Tate and I were at school early one morning, and I was getting ready for my day.  I was bustling around my classroom - checking email, grabbing my first cup of coffee, looking over lesson plans - you know, "teachery stuff."  Tate was writing on my white board, waiting to head to class.  At some point I glanced up to see what he was doing and he had written a colorful collage of messages that read, "Tate is awesome! Knox is awesome! Brady is awesome! Nash is awesome!"  Of course it made me smile to see that he had included Nash in his writing.  But, at the same time, it didn't surprise me because Tate is so great about including his brother in his everyday life.  He brings him up time and time again, and each time it melts my heart. 

But on this particular morning, the heart melting when one step farther... I told Tate that I loved what he wrote on my board and he then explained to me how he chose which color to write each sentence, "Mine is red because it's my favorite color; Knox's is green because it's his favorite color, Brady's is purple because it's her favorite color; and Nash's is blue because that was his favorite color." 

What?

According to Tate, Nash's favorite color would be blue. 

Blue.

Blue like his perfect little eyes and like the blanket I swaddled him in.  Blue like the sky I look up at to see if I can catch just a glimpse of him watching down on us.  Blue.

There's so much about my little boy that I've always wondered... What would be his favorite sport?  His favorite dessert?  What foods would he despise?  Would he love to read or do math?  Play Monopoly?  What movie would he make me watch over and over again? 

On most days, I've come to accept that I'm not ever going to know the answers to these questions.  But, because of one very loving, honest, and sensitive eight year old boy, I learned something that I never dreamed I would know...

His favorite color was blue.

Love to y'all,
Tracy

Bookin' Along

Latest Book Update....

Any day now I should receive the entire book mock up (all pages with text and illustrations) from the publisher.  I already okayed the preview (the first few pages) - so now I'm just waiting on seeing the entire thing.  I'm beyond excited about our progress. 

Now that the illustrations are finished, the process goes pretty quickly.  I talk to the publishers, giving them my vision and answering their questions.  They work for a few days and then they send me a proof.  I either suggest changes or approve what they did.  And this just keeps repeating for every aspect of the book.

I do need to note that my brother felt so badly about taking such a long time to get the illustrations finished.  However, now that they're done and I can see how beautiful they are, I completely understand.  Even though I've assured him it was well worth the wait, he still feels badly.  So much so, he asked me to share the following:

To our Family and Friends

 

On behalf of my wife and myself, we would like to thank everyone for their patience in regards to our illustration work. We did everything by hand and there is very little room for error with our chosen mediums, so this process took much longer than anticipated.

 

Nash is our nephew and we wanted to do our best in his honor and I feel we accomplished that goal. We felt compelled to give all that have donated to the publication of this book a quality product and we strongly feel we met that end as well. However, I cannot thank you all enough for your patience and your faith in our little team of author and illustrators.

 

With much love,

Trent and Kara Smith

 

I'll be sure to let y'all know more details as they come.  My goal is to have the book available for purchase by Thanksgiving!!!

 

Love to y'all,

Tracy