Sam’s favorite color has always been purple, and to this day it still is. I can’t count the number of purple markers we have been through in this house. Come to think of it, I don’t even notice the fact that every time he eats food from a bowl I make sure he gets a purple one; it must be ingrained.

He needed a new winter coat this year because, after about 3 seasons, he has outgrown his first one. So when we started talking about it, you can guess what he wanted: Purple.

You can also probably guess that they don’t make boy coats in purple. For that you have to hit the girl department, and even then it’s not so easy. I finally found what we needed though in the girl’s section of one of the numerous holiday catalogs we’ve received. It’s always fun figuring out what size your son is according to girl measurements.

When I was in the process of confirming my order and looking at my product list, which included “Girl’s coat, size: S,” I wondered if I was really doing the right thing. Would kids tease him? It would break my heart if they did, especially about something that he loves so much and for which he has absolutely no reason to be ashamed.

When it arrived yesterday, my husband brought in the box. When Sam saw it he yelled, “Is it my purple coat?!” Then he took it out and hugged it to his chest, running around the room. It wasn’t nearly cold enough today for him to have to wear a winter coat to school, but he insisted. I wrote his name in it, zipped him up, and reluctantly took him to school.

I pointed out to the teachers that he had a new coat, a purple one, and that I’d prepared him a bit in the event that anyone said anything to him about it that wasn’t positive. He knew to tell them simply that purple was his favorite color. I was still apprehensive. Kids can be crappy.

When I picked him up I asked him how everyone liked his new coat. He said that really only the teachers had said they liked it, and that his classmates hadn’t even noticed.