When I was eighteen months old, my uncle passed away. As the story goes, my family was in the hospital with him and suddenly the sky darkened to black and there was an intense thunder storm. It soon passed, and as the storm passed and the sky cleared into blue skies, my uncle passed away as well.
A few days later, I was standing on our screened-in porch looking outside and my parents heard me calling, "Kiss! Kiss!" (my uncle's name was Cris and I couldn't yet pronounce my R's). When they came out to see what I was calling to, they saw me pointing at a rainbow as I called his name.
When my grandfather died, I was in Italy with my parents. My mom flew home early and my dad and I were left to spend a few days alone in Venice. The day of his wake was wet and dreary, but as the afternoon came to a close, there was a rainbow.
When my grandmother joined him almost 3 years ago, it was again rainy and damp, and again there was a rainbow that afternoon.
At my graduation party, after walking through my backyard holding my mother's hand and sniffling about having to leave home for the first time, it drizzled for a few minutes, and yes, yet again, there was a rainbow.
We have hundreds of photos of rainbows stored away on various computers and cameras because they appear in our lives so often, almost always on a challenging or monumental day.
The reason I decided to share this story with you is because when I arrived home yesterday, Luciana's umbrella was sitting outside the door, and of course, it is a rainbow umbrella - each panel is a delicious, bright, vivid color. I thought it was a nice "welcome home" gesture as I moved the last of my belongings from the temporary apartment back home to Luciana's. Thank you rainbows!
This is why I say that if I were to choose a religion, it would simply be my faith in rainbows to show themselves when I need it most.
Note: The rainbow in the photo is not an Italian one, but a lovely one taken the other day in my backyard in Vermont (thanks, Mama!).
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