Pink.

Pink. Her life had been defined by pink- and she loved it. The day she was born, the first color to touch her infant skin was a pink blanket which was quickly followed by pink booties and hat. Her first steps were taken while wearing a pink sun dress. Pink ribbons adorned her pig tails the first day of school. Pink lipstick saw her through her first kiss. Pink flowers held by pink bridesmaids walked her down the isle. And she looked forward to the day she could bring her own pink bundle home from the hospital. But life had other plans.

Blue... blue tennis shoes, blue baseball caps, blue toy cars littered her living room after giving birth to boy after boy. Three sons. No time for pink lipstick or pink ribbons anymore, she lived in blue jeans as she spent her days wrestling, playing soccer and making mud pies. Blue homemade Valentines adorned her fridge. Her life seemed to now be defined by blue- and she loved it. Yet her heart still yearned for pink.

Month after month... little pink negative signs seemed to taunt her. She began to hate pink. The pink scrubs of the nurses at the fertility clinic. The pink walls of the doctors office. Pink became the color of her failure- the color of disappointment.

Her husband held her as she cried. His heart broke for her. He wanted to be able to give her everything her heart desired. He knew he couldn't fix the ache, but he could try. She came home one night to a pink suitcase packed with pink lingerie. He made sure there were pink roses in the hotel room. Pink champagne on ice. Pink bathrobes at the spa. In her suitcase she had even found that her sons had each snuck in a picture they had drawn with pink crayons. She was loved and pink was there to proclaim it. Pink found it's way back into her heart.

Six weeks later, a pink positive sign filled her vision. Ultrasounds later confirmed a pink shopping spree was in order. Nine months flew by in a pink blur. Hospital bags packed with three tiny pink outfits, each picked out by a brother, were loaded into the car. The day had finally arrived! Thirty six hours of hard labor. She didn't understand it. Her sons had never been this much trouble. Worry and fear were etched on the nurses faces. Something was wrong. The umbilical cord. It was wrapped around the neck. The baby wasn't breathing. ...blue... her daughter was blue. The room spun. This can't be... this can't be happening. Her husband stood glued to her side- too scared to go over to the doctors encircling his new born daughter. He reached over and embraced his sobbing wife, burying her face into his chest. A cry. A shivering cry pierced the air. She yanked her face up, tears streaming down her cheeks- her heart leaping. The group of doctors opened up and she saw her daughter, her face tinged blue gasp for air between cries bringing a blush to her cheeks- it was the lovliest shade of pink she'd ever seen.