Book Ends
Several of you asked about the rainbow that visited us on Tuesday morning after mom left us. Dad is sure that it was a message from Mom to us that she made it to the other side safely. I'm posting 3 pictures of it below.
The story that goes with it is this. I woke up at 6 am. If you know me, you know that doesn't happen. I could tell by the light coming in my window that the sun was rising, and I thought it would be crazy to get out of bed, and go see it. When I looked to the East, I saw what must have been the most beautiful sunrise ever. The images and hues formed by the clouds were dazzling. So I ran back inside to get my camera. I'm including a couple of samples here. After I was satisfied with the shots, I turned to go back inside. All of a sudden, I saw the most beautiful rainbow...in the West! I don't remember ever seeing a rainbow in the West, especially in the morning, when there was no rain. So I took some pictures. It was amazing, because the rainbow ended right at Mom & Dad's house. I got on the ATV and drove closer and closer, stopping several times to take pictures. Rainbows never last forever, and this one was no exception. When it started vanishing, it left all but the little bit you see in the 3rd picture, right over their house.
By the time I got close to the house, I saw Dad over by the barn. He had waken up early and gone down to the barn, and happened to step out just as the rainbow appeared. Then I saw Leslie gingerly walking barefooted down the road towards Dad. Apparently he called Leslie and woke her up, and told her to call and wake me up, too. Once we all saw each other, he called me over and we looked in awe at the rainbow together. Then Dad invited us to have breakfast with him, and said he wanted to show us something that Mom left for us.
When we got back to the house, he took us back into his room to reveal a lot of stuff spread out all over the bed. He had waken up early (ahem, really early) and couldn't get something out of his head. Mom had told him, "Make sure you get what I left you all in this dresser." He had already taken from the top drawer a notepad where Mom had written some final letters to us, but he realized that he hadn't looked in the bottom drawer. What a treasure he found! Mom had gone and hand-selected a lot of memorabilia from all the scrapbooks, photo collections, and shoe boxes full of post cards, letters, and things we'd written each other over the years. To me, this was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Of course, no one could have prepared our hearts for the stunning and beautiful rainbow the night of her memorial party. Breathtaking! If you have pictures of that one, please post a comment to let me know how to contact you.
After the long week, before everyone returned to their homes in Texas and Spain, we all gathered together to pray and thank God for all that He had done for us. We told Him that we took these two rainbows, one in the East and one in the West, like book ends for a good and noble library, to be His promise that we would indeed have safe passage and be reunited, no matter what ocean or great abyss separated us.
The story that goes with it is this. I woke up at 6 am. If you know me, you know that doesn't happen. I could tell by the light coming in my window that the sun was rising, and I thought it would be crazy to get out of bed, and go see it. When I looked to the East, I saw what must have been the most beautiful sunrise ever. The images and hues formed by the clouds were dazzling. So I ran back inside to get my camera. I'm including a couple of samples here. After I was satisfied with the shots, I turned to go back inside. All of a sudden, I saw the most beautiful rainbow...in the West! I don't remember ever seeing a rainbow in the West, especially in the morning, when there was no rain. So I took some pictures. It was amazing, because the rainbow ended right at Mom & Dad's house. I got on the ATV and drove closer and closer, stopping several times to take pictures. Rainbows never last forever, and this one was no exception. When it started vanishing, it left all but the little bit you see in the 3rd picture, right over their house.
By the time I got close to the house, I saw Dad over by the barn. He had waken up early and gone down to the barn, and happened to step out just as the rainbow appeared. Then I saw Leslie gingerly walking barefooted down the road towards Dad. Apparently he called Leslie and woke her up, and told her to call and wake me up, too. Once we all saw each other, he called me over and we looked in awe at the rainbow together. Then Dad invited us to have breakfast with him, and said he wanted to show us something that Mom left for us.
When we got back to the house, he took us back into his room to reveal a lot of stuff spread out all over the bed. He had waken up early (ahem, really early) and couldn't get something out of his head. Mom had told him, "Make sure you get what I left you all in this dresser." He had already taken from the top drawer a notepad where Mom had written some final letters to us, but he realized that he hadn't looked in the bottom drawer. What a treasure he found! Mom had gone and hand-selected a lot of memorabilia from all the scrapbooks, photo collections, and shoe boxes full of post cards, letters, and things we'd written each other over the years. To me, this was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.Of course, no one could have prepared our hearts for the stunning and beautiful rainbow the night of her memorial party. Breathtaking! If you have pictures of that one, please post a comment to let me know how to contact you.
After the long week, before everyone returned to their homes in Texas and Spain, we all gathered together to pray and thank God for all that He had done for us. We told Him that we took these two rainbows, one in the East and one in the West, like book ends for a good and noble library, to be His promise that we would indeed have safe passage and be reunited, no matter what ocean or great abyss separated us.
posted by Steve Coan @ 6:32 PM
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