All fired up

When I was little, red was my favorite color. I always had to have the red piece when playing a board game; Scarlet and Torch Red were always the first Crayola crayons to wear out, and I loved it when my grandmother wore her signature ruby jewelry. As a fiery, strong-willed (aka stubborn) little girl, everyone said the color suited me perfectly.

In the decades since then--without ever really thinking about it--my color of choice went from passionate red to lullabye blue. I suppose being told several thousand times as a child that redheads don't look good wearing red played a part, along with having a March birthstone (aquamarine), and having dozens of designers and stylists tell me that blue complimented my eyes.

Today, a quick inventory of my closet shows one lonely red item: a pair of red croc stiletto boots that I bought in Brazil 10 years ago and have worn exactly one and a half times (the half being a night in New York when I bought cheap flip flops for my aching feet and carried the boots home). My jewelry box, meanwhile, has just one red gemstone: my grandmother's emerald-cut ruby ring that I recently inherited.

Last night, I gently tried on grandma's ring (at right; in desperate need of cleaning and resetting), and the surprising pop of the rich red ruby against my skin got me to thinking about colors, gemstones, and their meaning in our lives. Red, afterall, represents passion, fire, energy and determination; words that describe--for better or for worse--my inherent personality. The legendary stone of kings, rubies are said to radiate warmth and vitality and express powerful feelings. Blue, on the other hand, is associated with the opposite: tranquility and calmness. Aquamarine--the stone of the mermaids--arouses gentle feelings like sympathy, harmony, and friendship.

Fittingly, then, grandma's ruby is making me realize that, just as I've banished red from my wardrobe all these years at the advice of others, I've been suppressing the fiery parts of my true personality that made red suit me so well. And, while there's much to be said for infusing life with a little tranquility or blue gemstones, letting one's natural passion flame is a beautiful thing. So, watch for me in 2012... I'll be the one all fired up and wearing rubies.