A Blue So Blue...

I recently read a picture book that really spoke to me. It's called A Blue So Blue by Jean-Francois Dumont and it won the Prix Saint-Exupery (Best Illustrated Children's Book) for 2004.

Anyway, the story is about a little boy who is "strange" because he liked to paint in the quiet of his room. This little boy has a dream one night about "a blue so blue" and he starts out on a quest to find this color he's dreamt. He travels far and wide, searching for this blue. He goes to the museum, to the sea shore, to the America's to hear the "blues" and even to Africa to see the "blue men" all the while searching for "a blue so blue." Finally, someone tells him that the blue he is searching for "may never have been very far away" to begin with. The little boy remembers his home and his mother who loves him and he travels back. When he gets home, he realizes that this blue he's dreamt of...

A blue so blue, it was both dark and bright... A blue so blue, it was always just right...
A blue so blue, it's both common and rare... A blue so blue, it's beyond compare...
A blue so blue, it's both precious and plain... A blue so blue, it's hard to explain...
A blue so blue, it's both warm and cool... A blue so blue, it shines like a jewel...
A blue so blue, it's both happy and sad... A blue so blue, through good and bad...

..had always been right there in front of him - it was the blue of his mother's eyes. The little boy said, "Night after night I've been dreaming of blue, a blue so blue it's both tender and strong. A blue so blue, it felt close all along. I looked and I asked and I started to roam, till I found it at last - right here at home." (sob...)

This story really got me! I've been so blue lately, with the move and trying to fit in to my new job and the loneliness of being up here in NY (as well as other things). I feel like I have been on a great quest to find an answer to a question - "what is the meaning of all of this" - and I've been searching in vain. But then I'm reminded of what is really important. (And it isn't my house and it especially isn't my job!) What is important is my family. And the things that I love that inspire me. And all the rest is a means to an end. It's the stuff to get you to that realization. So, basically, I've journeyed and found my "blue so blue." I wonder what your is?