I've heard of all sorts of themes for parties, but never a party for peeling paint. Why not? I think it would catch on. We are a little strange around here - we're peelers. We love to peel things...wax from candles, glue off of our fingers, gum from under our beds(!@#) ... just about anything that we can get our hands on. My son has even developed a lovely little habit of peeling off the black top of his skateboard. But, there is nothing more fun to peel than paint! Maybe that's because there's an abundance of it around here. We peel it off paint cans, we peel it off the floor, off of shoes...just about anything paint can fall on, we can peel. But, those were all "little" peels, in comparison to our newest peel.
It's what I call the "Big Peel". It came out of nowhere. I was in the kitchen, minding my own business, taking off the molding where the wall renovation would be happening. I began to notice some areas of, for lack of a better word, paint globs. The paint had coagulated in these areas. I took a closer look, as I was curious to see what had caused this. And, as I am a "hands on" learner, I needed to touch the paint and actually "peel" it a little. As I did so, and to my great surprise, a rather large piece of paint came peeling along with it.
This is the actual picture of the paint peeling.
I continued to peel, and soon got my kids in on the action. I knew we'd never have another chance like this one. They were thrilled! My son described this as "addictive", and I said it was "irresistible". We couldn't stop, and we couldn't believe our eyes. This was the best peeling experience we'd ever known. All of the others seemed like small potatoes compared to this one.
I reluctantly included the kids, as it was past their actual bedtime...but, I knew this kind of peeling doesn't come along every day. And, as the paint layers dropped off the wall, I couldn't help but recall the words of well-meaning family and friends. They went something like this..."how much square footage do you think you've actually lost since you've moved in?" Ha ha ha...I would laugh, not thinking it was really all that humorous. After all, a girl has to paint! And, I felt as though they were making light of my artistic expressions. And, furthermore, my kitchen has served as a learning palette for me to grow in my expressions. But, I couldn't really say this to all of those paint antagonists.
So, I got to thinking maybe they were right. This was seriously impeding the square footage of my already small kitchen. This paint was coming off in large chunks resembling thick rubbery dried glue. And, it was heavy! Sadly, that was not even the bottom layer of the paint. I could see red, which meant the original red I painted was still under a few layers of paint. 
Here's a picture to give you an idea of the way the paint looked on the ground. My kids were assisting in the peeling process here. You can see how the idea of a "paint-peeling party" could really catch on. Fun, fun, fun.
Once the paint was peeled I felt as though I was glimpsing a masterpiece.
Okay, okay, a masterpiece in my own mind...but, there was no denying it was unique. And, it was like a stroll down memory lane. Colors long ago covered up began to surface. Names of paint I'd forgotten came to mind. And, the colors with no name, that I "custom-mixed"...well, they had their own special memory attached to them.
It almost seemed sad to have to paint over this. But, in the end I saw it as a stepping stone. The peeling gave way to a smoother wall, which I would need to have as a paint surface for the new paint color. So, all things considered, I felt it was a fun and worthwhile endeavor. And, it made a new memory for me and the kids, and a peeling experience we'll always remember.
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