The Color Purple

Looking around our home, I am drawn to the fact that purple pervades so much of our lives. We have never had a purple theme in our home, but that does not diminish the fact that purple is ever-present, particularly when it involves Deb's accessorizing. There is a purple winter hat that is being retired until next year, the lavender down jacket, the purple watchbands, the purple pansies, even a purple-framed walker. And, of course, there will be purple and lavender tablecloths covering the Easter table as we enjoy our first meal with others, socially distanced still, in a long time.

Purple is a complex color with a variety of meanings and uses, and I will not attempt to treat them all here. The one which is foremost in our minds this weekend is its association with royalty. Although the Easter Bunny adopted purple (and pink, a runner-up color in many accessories), we will be turning with gratitude to the celebration of Easter itself and its abiding influence in our lives.

We are both vaccinated and looking forward to seeing more of you over the coming months. I will be headed to break Wanda the RV from winter storage in a couple weeks, we have a number of trips planned to Boston for the RAPA Phase II trial (will try to write more on that later), and we are busily planning visitors and visitations as our friends and family get their own vaccines and move back into a hopefully normal routine.

Abbey was here for nearly three weeks, book-ended by wonderful road trips between Yarmouth and Chicago for the two of us. Annie is in the second half of her spring semester and nailing down her summer before heading to Oxford to study in the fall, and Paul is starting a new role at his company and moving to new digs in Cambridge.

Home for a visit.

Stopping for a quick hug and visit with Annie in Ludlow, MA on the way to Chicago.

You are all in our prayers and thoughts this Easter weekend, and I hope you are glimpsing the future return, if not the immediate presence, of your family and loved ones as we turn to a season of rebirth for all of us that is so long overdue.

One of the joys has been receiving photographs from your archives that were living in iPhoto or somewhere in cloud storage. We are setting aside many ourselves to share with you when I get organized, but please keep them coming. We love them.

Debbie Murphy, sophomore year in high school on the beach in Naples, FL. Nancy Nash Watkins took this photograph when they were off on an adventure to visit Deb's grandparents (following a ride down the East Coast on Amtrak.)