“It’s raining again,” Kurt commented.

I looked outside and saw the sparkle of rain, lit by sun. It was one of those spring showery days, where the sun and rain had been continually vying for control. In short, it was rainbow weather.

“Ooooh!” I said, scanning the skies through the window, “I bet there’s a rainbow somewhere!”

Our home is situated on a hill, surrounded by trees. It’s lovely for many reasons, but viewing large expanses of sky and/or the horizon isn’t one of them.

“I’m going to drive down to the river to see if there’s a rainbow,” I announced. “Want to come?”

“Sure.”

We grabbed jackets and the keys, and were out the door and into the car within two minutes. Turning left out of our driveway, I kept one eye on the sky. As we approached the end of our road, I exclaimed, “Oh, look! There’s one!”

A huge rainbow was just appearing in the eastern sky. As we drove, it seemed to get brighter and brighter. Within a minute or two we were at the river and quickly parked. We scrambled out of the car to marvel at the rainbow emblazoned across the sky. It was a beauty! I took a few photos, hoping to capture its splendor. Its colorful arc stretched from dark clouds partway across the river, then disappeared into cloud-scattered blue skies. Wow!

Even if you understand the science, rainbows still feel like magic. When you see one, you have to stop and appreciate it. To wonder at it. To watch it glow and then ultimately fade away. It’s such an intense and transient beauty.

You can’t order up a rainbow like you can a taco (nod to Naomi Shihab Nye), but you can notice when conditions are ripe and go looking.

Some people chase tornados, I chase rainbows. I highly recommend it!