Unweaving a Rainbow

Is it possible to see a rainbow in the sky and not marvel at it's beauty? If you're reading this post, you've probably also noted my profile avatar.

Yes, I am lover of rainbows.

While at work a few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to capture the perfect moment of the setting sun as it was caught and reflected through a glass door.

Hmmmm... I love the way the cracks in the concrete floor look like lighting against a stormy sky; and the rainbow represents the hope of better things to come.

Seeing this also reminded me of the time I was traveling down the 5 freeway from San Francisco to L.A. with my mother and now stepfather. My Step-father is lovely. He's also one of the most intelligent men I've ever met, but as evidenced in this story I am about to share, he was clearly lacking when it came to dealing with young children.

I was in the backseat of the car, reading, when I glanced up to notice a rainbow arcing across the ocean. I immediately shouted, "Oh Look! A rainbow!!!"

Mom: "Where?"

Me: *gesturing madly* "Over there! Over there!! Do you see it?"

Mom: "Ooooh yes!"

Stepfather: "Hrrm..." (flicked eyes casually up to view)

Stepfather: *clears throat* and continues, "You know what causes a rainbow don't you?"

Mom: *directs what I now recognise as 'The Look of Panic' at Stepfather*

Me: *thinks to self, 'Why yes! it's a bridge to the fairy world' but says out loud* "Um...not really"

Stepfather: "A rainbow is an optical illusion created when the light of the sun shines through droplets of water in the Earths atmosphere"

Me: O_O

Stepfather: continued without a pause "The arc you see is caused by light refracting when it enters the droplet and then reflects back onto the droplets of water....blah blah blah blah blah"

Me: *Gives mother the 'Say it isn't so!' eyes*

Mom: *Looks pointedly at Stepfather* "I think that's enough of an explanation for now"

Stepfather: "Oh, um...yes. It's all very...um..well, yes... hrmm"

Me: *Continued looking at rainbow⎼with new eyes⎼ until I could no longer see it*

This moment has become a favourite family story. I've forgiven him, but I can also identify with John Keats in this excerpt from his poem, 'Lamia'.

Do not all charms fly

At the mere touch of cold philosophy?

There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:

We know her woof, her texture; she is given

In the dull catalogue of common things.

Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings,

Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,

Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine –

Unweave a rainbow

Rainbows will always remind me of a time when I imagined them to be bridges to wondrous, faraway places⎯now that I'm older, they still bring me wondrous joy... even when they're refracted and reflected across a simple concrete floor.

That's it for now.

Love,

Tess