My “Living Healthier” blog posts are definitely going to continue, but something a little more important interrupted my writing ideas today.  This post belongs under the category “Aging Gracefully” since we all face dealing with the passing of those we love, especially as we grow older. Today would have been my mom’s 79th birthday.  Birthdays are a reminder of those we love, so of course, she was on my mind all day.  I miss her and am so sad for my dad because I know he misses her even more.

This afternoon was magnificent AND warm, so Max and I dropped the top and drove out to the cemetery.  There were things to do, so I really didn’t intend to be gone long; however, as I have learned, I’m not really the one in control.  I left the rose brought to place on my mom’s grave and started to head back home.  The road through the cemetery was blocked by some people working, so I backed up to go out on the opposite side.  When I started to turn onto the highway, something caused me to turn the other way.  It could have been that the day was too appealing to go back inside, it could have been that the tears caused me to want to drive for just a few minutes to clear my head, or it just could have been serendipity.  Whatever the reason, we turned left instead of right.

As soon as I made the first curve, a rainbow showed up right in front of me kind of coming out of a hole in the clouds.  It wasn’t a huge rainbow by any means….it hadn’t been raining, but it was clear and showed up in the setting sun.  My first thought was that it was my mom.  My second thought was that I needed to follow it.  It was seriously pulling me down the road.  I tried to take some pictures and snapped a few though none of them captured its true beauty.

Max and I drove with the wind and the radio and our rainbow leading us through the country.  We encountered a lone chicken on the side of the road.  It got scared and ran across the road in front of us to the safety of the fence on the other side.  I’m pretty sure it was scared because Max desperately wanted to play with it, and I stopped in the middle of the road to take pictures of it.  You can’t really blame it.  I would have run across the road too….No, wait–I would have run AWAY from the car, person, and large canine, NOT in front of them.  Anyway, many cows came over to the fence perhaps to watch the show, and Max barked while I took pictures of them too!

At this point, I thought about turning around because it would be the shortest way to get home, but the rainbow was still beckoning to me.  We kept going.  Around the next bend in the road, there was another baby rainbow!  It looked just like the other one with the hole in the clouds and the pretty reflection of the sun, yet this one was on the other side with the setting sun in the middle.  Since Max was being seriously entertained by this ride and I was too, I just know that this other rainbow was put there by my husband.  Now, my dog and I are chasing two rainbows through the countryside. I mean, seriously, why not???  No turning back now.

We saw some extremely cute goats, some children playing who yelled that they liked my car and dog, plus we were chased by an adorable black and white hound dog.  He was only halfheartedly chasing us and chose to go back to watch over the kids rather than wear himself out.  I can’t describe how dazzling the sunlight and sky were this afternoon anymore than I can describe just how perfect the creatures we encountered were either. It just kept going. It kind of felt as if I were in a children’s book. It seemed the animals could start talking to us at any moment. We stopped and watched a hawk fly, we saw more children playing who stopped to wave, and then a black cat darted across the road.  Bad luck??  Nope! I do believe it was just a relative of my mom’s beloved cat Midnight Louie paying us a quick visit.

So, do you think I’m crazy?  Maybe; I won’t argue with you.   But, I do know that having faith and hope are all that we really have, and sometimes a few tricks of light from above can be just what the doctor ordered.  Why wouldn’t my momma want to lead me on a happy drive with Max? And, why wouldn’t B want to say hi as well since we were obviously having such fun?  He loved nothing more than watching that dog have fun.  When’s the last time you saw a rainbow, and when’s the last time you chased one?