the best kind of rainbow

Who doesn’t love a rainbow! I remember the first time I saw my first complete, Roygbiv-perfect double rainbow. It has been my favorite rainbow ever since.

The kids and I were tagging along on another one of Roy’s business road trips. This time it was Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Roy was done with his appointments earlier than expected, so we wandered southward, following the bay, from Crisfield towards Virginia. As as we drove into Bloxom, the earthy call of homesteading and simplicity was magnetic. Before we knew it, we were looking at real estate books and making plans to move to the country and homeschool the kids. We even found the perfect home –Every bedroom had a fireplace and a balcony that overlooked the bay; a separate wing that begged to be converted into a school-house; and two guard geese in the front yard that had a reputation for hissing and biting intruders. It was simply perfect. As we pulled out of the driveway and headed down the sandy road back towards the highway, we saw our perfect rainbow.

It’s a sign, we decided. We were going to sell our home and move to the country. And get walking sticks and overalls for ourselves. And rockers and wind chimes for our new, wrap-around front porch. But when we got back to our city life, objectivity and obligations set in and we scratched our plans. It was no big deal; just one of those c’est la vie moments with nothing lost nor gained.

Then yesterday I saw a different kind of rainbow. It was a tiny fistful of bright cheer tenaciously pushing itself through the dark, puffy folds of an angry thunderstorm. The little thing just wouldn’t give up. Every time a furious wind whipped the grey clouds into a darker shade of rage, the rainbow just shoved its cheery head in between and out for any one to see. Fascinated, I pulled over and watched. As I watched the determined rainbow, I changed my mind. This rainbow is now my favorite. It reminds of everything I’ve lost and everything I’ve gained. And like my tenacious burst of rainbow, Goodness and Grace have abounded even in the darkest times.