Living Firmly Outside of the Box

Caiden was talking to another kid who lives out in the country by us.

He asked, “Have you seen that house with the purple fence?”

To which Caiden replied, “That is my house.”

Yes, we live out in the country on 12 acres, and no we are not your typical country folks. Dennis’ favorite color has always been purple and mine has always been green. The outdoors in Tennessee is plenty green so that was enough to fit in my favorite color. Growing lavender has been a bit of a challenge in Tennessee so our front yard is not yet a sea of purple lavender flowers—let me emphasis yet!

So when it came time to paint the fence there were three colors we knew we didn’t want to paint it – black, brown or white. We aren’t the fitting in kind of couple. So Dennis bought green, purple, a red and an unmemorable color. We painted a panel of the fence with each color on both sides so we could see it against the house and against the field. We made a unanimous decision for the color purple! There wasn’t even a second place color.

Caiden’s friends’ dad actually felt sorry for the people who owned our house. He assumed that we meant to paint it black, but something was wrong with the paint and it turned purple.

And so it goes when two non-conformists moved out into the countryside of Tennessee. I like to think of us as thought leaders. Maybe others will dare to paint their fences the color they like rather than what is expected.

In any case, seeing the fence everyday reminds me of how lucky I am to be married to my husband who lives firmly outside the box with me.

The Fioravanti’s have a farm

E-I-E-I-O

And on that farm they have 6 chickens

E-I-E-I-O

With a cluck cluck here
And a cluck cluck there
Here a cluck, there a cluck
Everywhere a cluck cluck

E-I-E-I-O

And on that farm they have a purple fence . . .