May 16

It was, in simple terms, a wonky weather day, marked by heavy rain followed by sunshine followed by light rain followed by clouds. Followed by yet more rain. Certainly a strange kind of mid-May day in Northern California, where it rarely rains at all after April. As the sunlight and rain did their extended dance, I kept telling myself that surely a rainbow had to be out there somewhere -- perhaps just beyond my line of sight. And then this evening, as I drove from the boys' open house at school to Abby's dance class, I finally saw one.

As I drove along and periodically glanced up at those colors, I was reminded of a pair of truths. One, it's really easy to get lost in rainstorms; to be overwhelmed by the painful parts of life. If we're not careful, we can even give in to the darkness, close our eyes, and fail to see the points of light that often appear unexpectedly and illuminate the way. And two, rainbows truly do often follow the rain. Sometimes we just need to be conscious of that truth so we'll remember to look up.