One is not surprised to see a rainbow during a storm or shortly thereafter if the sun happens to make an appearance at just the right moment. For me, personally, the colored prism has done a Noah like number on Poops at times when I was being asked to keep the faith and soldier on. The one that I will never forget is the one that framed the hospital building on the day that AK's mama died.

She called me on the way home from the hospital six months before asking about cancer and chemo and such. Miss Ann had been diagnosed..her only daughter was scared, and rightfully so. The coming weeks held nothing but nausea and weakness for her mother during the brutal course of chemotherapy that followed. The emotions involved with such an experience render family members helpless, guilty and hopeful all at once in a big old mix of i-don't-know-what-to-feel-or-what-is-real. Miss Ann was eventually admitted to the hospital for the last few days of her life and we camped out in her room lookin' for faith and angels and snackin' in the waiting room.

It was raining when I left for work that morning...typical spring weather. The sun broke through about halfway there and when I saw that rainbow above as I pulled into the parking lot, I knew that this was the day it would happen. We laid on the cot by the window, me and AK and Alli, talking about stuff and resting in the late afternoon shadows. I could hear Miss Ann's labored breathing becoming more sporadic until it was no longer audible.

There was another time I saw one when I least expected it. There was this guy that I had fell hard for after my divorce, or before then if you must know. We worked together sometimes and got to know each other that way. In spite of the odds, I always believed he was the one for me. One night we were having a work dinner meeting and it was rainin' cats and dogs. I glanced out through the window of the restaurant as the sun was setting and was delighted to see the biggest fattest rainbow ever right out there smiling at me telling me to keep the faith. So far I have.

That picture up top there I took one day recently on the way home from work when there was nary a raindrop around. I reckon Big Ernie just thought I needed a little bit of rainbow to help me keep on believing in miracles like the sun shining through the clouds at just the right angle to help me keep going when times are hard.

That's how I prefer to think of it, anyway.