…as she lovingly carressed the gift handed to her, the soft hues of color in her hands went from deep throbbing purple all the way to a pastey white – a color almost like fair skin that has been choked of circulation and hidden from the sun.  Excitement tingled in her fingertips as her heartbeat quickened… it was time to choose … this would affect her life for a long time and once the decision was made, there would be no turning back … would she give in to the beckoning impulses?  Would she let others sway her decision?  Her choosing would only solidify her commitment …

Yeah, so I went to Sherwin Williams today and brought home paint samples for Amanda to choose from.  What did you think I was talking about? 

I’ll have you know that although contemporary literature says there may be only 50 shades of grey – I have 56 shades of purple for Amanda to choose from to paint her bedroom walls in her new apartment.  And I don’t believe I even grabbed all the samples available.  AND that doesn’t even include other stores and brands. 

Amanda’s passion for purple makes me a little crazy.  When she was three years old her favorite color yellow became the chosen color of her first wheelchair.  Yellow didn’t last and she next became your typical pink loving girl.  That color also was featured in wheelchair number two.  The pink stuck.  Second daughter Kristen made purple her favorite and youngest daughter Jillian always seemed to favor orange.  All was well and good with three different daughters and three different favorite colors.  That is, until Donny Osmond came along.   

Our family was priveleged to see Donny Osmond in a performance of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” and Amanda, in particular, was smitten.  Long story short, she has seen Donny in a total of 3 different performances, has met him face to face including having her picture taken with him, and has numerous Donny items (from Donny.com of which she is a follower) in her room.  She knows all the nitty-gritty about him – including his once-upon-a-time signature purple socks.  So, OF COURSE, purple became her favorite color.  Kristen has told her “No fair – it was MY favorite color first”.

So now we have to deal with Amanda choosing everthing from shirts, hats, coats, notebooks, pencils, glasses, pillows, and yes – room color – to be in her precious reminds-her-of-Donny purple.  We did compromise on the bedding and I got her to accept a lovely comforter with not only purple, but orange and green in it as well.  I will let her have one dark “accent” wall done in a vibrant purple but the other three walls will be a lighter lilac.  She was giddy holding those color cards!  Now to choose ….

Can you believe the paint color names they come up with?  Mature Grape, Euphoric Lilac, Vigorous Violet, Impulsive Purple, Elation, and Awesome Violet.  I think E.L. James might have to write a sequel.

That’s all for today.

just Laurel