July Creative Challenge, Day 5: Rainbow

Ohhh so many RAINBOW images to choose from, its hard to pick just one. They seem to be everywhere.

The other day I was in town looking for a car. A storm had just blown through, and when the downpour ended the sales man and I went out onto the lot. He kept looking distractedly over my shoulder. That seemed odd, considering he was laser focused on trying to sell me a car at all other points in our conversation. That was his job after all. Then after a few minutes he just stopped his sales pitch. He gave up talk of miles-per-gallon-highway, and automatic-transmission and rear-window-defrosters. His smile turned from sales-man professional to shy and wonder-filled. “Sorry” he said with a nod, “but there’s the most amazing rainbow behind you.” I turned around. And sure enough he was right.

I haven’t decided on the car, but I think the guy turned from “Sales man” to HUMAN in that instant. Rainbows can do that.

——–

I think my favorite Rainbow story happened when my daughter was little. A raucous thunderstorm came through the area and left us with a few downed branches and an awesome rainbow.

It was the biggest, closest, most vibrant rainbow I’ve ever seen.

Clear from the danger of the storm my daughter and I put on our rain boots. I took her hand  and we walked over to the edge of the neighbor’s cornfield.

The corn was hip high to me, but was just at above her head.

The edge of our known world.

A fence that divided us from else-where and other-ness.

It felt as if we two were all alone in our little Zone.

I picked her up and held her on my hip as we watched the rainbow and sang nonsense songs and talked.

I knew that the rainbow would fade as the angle of the sun adjusted, but this memory would remain brilliantly vivid thru the red, orange, yellow, green, blue and indigo of life.