Rainbows in our Midst

CAFFECTION.COM

Dad died two years ago today. Doesn't seem possible, but there it is. The picture above was taken 2 years ago tomorrow morning. The story is simple, and a bit saccharine, perhaps, but it still makes us tear up and smile at the revelation. We'd not seen a rainbow since leaving Kauai in the Spring. On the island, rainbows are a daily occurrence. They're so common that perhaps we took them for granted. We hope that's not the case, but sometimes we have beauty in our midst and look right through it, until someone points it out to us.

All summer, as dad battled with cancer, improved, had a setback, bounced back again, then seemed to stabilize, we went about our routine of caring for him, being there, attending his needs the best we could. But no rainbows. The usual amount of rain, but nothing resembling a rainbow.

September 30th 2006, dad had really been struggling, too weak even to leave his bed. Every breath was ragged, laborious. Finally, at three in the afternoon, he resigned himself to death, and was gone. We bade him goodbye, made necessary phone calls, and prepared a burial per dad's instructions.

The next morning we woke to a mottled sky, with a cloud bank in the west, a shimmer of glistening rainfall, and a glorious double rainbow. Our first since Hawaii. It could not have come at a better time. Beauty is all around us. Let's resolve to take a deep breath every now and then, stop our busyness, silence our frantic minds, and look for the rainbow that's surely there.