EASTHAMPTON — On the grayest day of the year — the one before the big snowstorm — the cold blurred the eyes as bundled-up walkers and a few masked cyclists hit the Manhan Rail Trail’s leafless path.

Then, a burst of springtime color, as Storm Truman in the chair and partner Maya Shaffer on the handles smiled hello and skittered right by, their many-hued wisps of hair wing-like in the onrushing cold.

Cold that did not seem to bother them at all. Truman’s coat was wide open, and neither had glove nor hat.

“Yeah, we left that stuff in the car,” says Truman, taking lots of pictures. “It’s all good.”

The striped socks and expressive shoes vaguely suggest Dorothy Gale, but Truman said they were “feeling more of a Miss Frizzle vibe from ‘The Magic School Bus.’ ”

For Shaffer, the locks of “purple rain” is a breakout thing: “I was working security. Right in the rules, it said you could only have your natural hair color. Well ...”

“I’ve been coloring my hair forever,” laughed Truman.

The nonbinary couple has just moved to the area — Halloween day, in fact — and this was their first time on the Manhan. “We’ve been dealing with all the craziness of moving,” said Truman. “Now we’re just poking around learning where we live.”

“We’ve been to the Audubon, the Smith Art Museum, wandered around downtown, just winging it,” said Shaffer. “And now we’re on this gorgeous bike path.”

The couple most recently lived in Lowell, and Stow before that. Together five years, they were looking to settle somewhere, a place known for community, for its resources, for neighbors who wave to you, and, said Truman, “the ability to access nature.”

Like, for instance, Northampton.

“We were house-hunting spring and summer all through Northampton, saw some beautiful gardens,” said Shaffer. “Then we expanded our search to surrounding towns. We found the perfect place, by accident, in Holyoke.”

“I can’t drive so we needed access to public transit,” said Truman. “We managed to find a lovely home that’s only a two-minute walk from the bus stop. And it’s only like a 15-minute drive to Northampton.”

“We’ve had very positive interactions with strangers,” said Shaffer, smiling at passersby. “And neighbors coming over to say hello while we’re unloading our stuff. Not always the vibe in Lowell.”

“We’re excited to check out all the trails around here, and we wanna get bikes too!” said Storm Truman.

Truman, 29, was born in Rhode Island and began having chronic pain as a teen, which only got worse, along with constant migraines and ever-changing diagnoses.

“It’s been accumulating over the course of my life,” said Truman. “One doctor thought I had connective tissue disorder, then it was fibromyalgia in 2017, all sorts of neurological disorders and non-epileptic seizures. I haven’t been able to work full-time since I was like 24.”

“The neurological stuff hit hard,” said Shaffer. “The seizures are killer.”

Truman’s days of modeling for art classes is a thing of the past, along with their dream job, working for the nonprofit Nature Connection in Concord, Mass.

“We’d go to residential schools and assisted living, especially memory care units,” said Truman. “We’d bring in program animals and the loveliness of the outdoors to people who had less access to it. I miss getting to do that kind of work. I mean, I did presentations holding a live owl!”

Shaffer, 37, an investigative reporter for the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism, was born in Connecticut while their mom was a student at Yale. The couple has collaborated on a few stories on corruption and violations of public records laws.

But the outdoors has always been part of the equation for Storm Truman and Maya Shaffer.

Forever

They met through a mutual friend. They knew they had something special right off the bat. “Yeah, we caught on pretty quick,” grinned Truman.

“It was the Boston Pickle Fair,” Shaffer recalled. “There we were, laughing and singing along together, and I’m thinking, ‘I could do this, like, forever.’ Not a feeling I ever had.”

“I had a partner die in the past,” said Truman. “I never thought I would feel this way. My mom cried when I told her I found my forever person.”

Of course, even the Obamas will tell you that relationships are hard. Not every day is the Pickle Fair. How do you get through the thorny spots?

“We dealt with a lot of ’em,” said Shaffer. “We were locked down together during COVID — that’s when your relationship gets tested. But we were always on the same team.”

“When hard things are happening, we have each other’s back,” said Truman.

As for wedding bells …

Marriage on hold

“We’re partners and engaged,” said Shaffer, “but disability laws make it frustrating. SSI calculates benefits very differently if you present in the community as married.”

Referred to as the marriage penalty, a disabled person’s Supplemental Security Income can be greatly reduced should they choose to marry someone “able-bodied.” Even if the person is making minimum wage, it can be just enough to render the disabled spouse ineligible for SSI, which includes in-home care, a vital service for those with disabilities.

“A lot of times people lose access to health care,” said Truman. “Disabled often means low income.”

Critics say the policies are archaic and came about during a period when disabled people were not expected to marry, or have adventures for that matter. There have been efforts in Congress to end the marriage penalty as recently as 2022, but the bill died in committee. Advocates have called it the final frontier of marriage equality.

“As a queer person, but to STILL not be able to get married — it’s upsetting,” said Truman.

Both are certain it will happen, but these days they’ve got their hands full with a complete overhaul of the kitchen in their new house in Holyoke.

Pets

For animal lovers like Truman and Shaffer, it’s only natural that a surprise bonus came with the property: “We have a koi pond at our house!” cried Truman. “The previous owner built the pond himself.”

“You make a hole in the ice for aeration, you don’t feed them and they do fine until spring,” said Shaffer. “We think there’s at least 25 in there.”

Also keeping company with the couple are two cats, a ball python named Fafnir and a roommate with a dog. One cat, Bonk, is totally interested in the snake and vice versa. The other, Bisque, long mistook the serpent for an inanimate object, said Shaffer, “until she realized it was alive — and LOST it.”

As for multiuse trails and such, just the other day they stumbled upon Ashley Reservoir, the personification of nature, no more than a stone’s throw from the house.

“Settle down? I think we just did!” laughed Maya Shaffer.

Bob Flaherty, a longtime author, radio personality and former Gazette writer and columnist, writes a monthly column called “Chance Encounters” in which he writes about our neighbors going about their daily lives.