She took it.  She took my purple pen.  It had been in the bottom of my purple purse for months and before that, in my desk at school.  It was part of a set of multicolor Bic Quick Dry Gel Pens I had bought and it was my favorite color.  It was laying on the table during a meeting I attended today and when I returned from a break, there it was, in her hand, doodling on some informational paper we had received.  Using up MY beautiful purple ink all over that paper in senseless, swirling doodles.  But how do you ask someone to give back your favorite pen?  It suppose it could make a person look terribly obsessive and I didn’t know this woman from Adam.  All I knew was that I was stuck with the no-name Horace Mann pen that didn’t write nearly as smoothly and she was playing with mine.  At the end of the meeting, I watched as she picked up my pen (as well as a pad of sticky notes in the center of the table) and stuffed it in her purse before she walked out the door.

It’s amazing the silly things we get attached to.  In my case, one of those things happens to be the color purple (not the movie or musical) and I have a lot of it.  In my house, within my wardrobe, in my accessories.  ( I have a very understanding husband)  As human beings, I believe we like to surround ourselves with things that have meaning, that speak to us, that help define who we are.  And for some reason, of all the colors in the world, purple speaks to me.

I tried not to like it.  Someone once told me it was a “gaudy” color and not something you would want to have in your wardrobe and certainly not in your home.  So, I tried to like blue – I really did.  While it is a nice color (and the color for my beloved Kentucky Wildcats), it doesn’t speak to me.

As an elementary teacher, purple has been a great gateway to talk to little girls, especially shy kindergarten girls meeting me for the first time.  I’ll notice what color they’re wearing when they meet me and I’ll ask them, “do you like purple?  Purple is my favorite color too!”.  Their eyes light up immediately as they recognize a kindred spirit in the old lady who is going to be their music teacher for maybe the next six years.  I have a large stuffed purple crayola crayon in my classroom that has sparked many a conversation with both girls and boys and a purple drink cozy with my signature diet coke in it.  I think it brings a sense of comfort to my kids in knowing that I, like them, have a favorite color.

It has also brought about discussion concerning boy colors and girl colors.  It’s amazing in this day and age that we still attach gender to colors of all things!  But in my room, it’s safe to be a boy and say you like pink or purple because it’s whatever brings you joy that’s important.  It’s a great way to teach kids to be themselves and that they can like whatever they want to and not be ashamed of it.  Which then in turn is a great way to tie into something as personal as music preference or selection of an instrument to play.  The simple discussion of color can lead to the eye opening realization that boys can like Taylor Swift or girls can play tuba and it’s ok.  Sounds silly, but it’s true.

So I suppose that when I go school shopping tomorrow, I’m going to have to pick up another package of Bic Quick Dry gel pens so that I can have another purple pen. Not to be obsessive, but I’m not sure I can start the new school year without it!