By the time I spotted this rainbow it was faint, 
its colors just a hint on the horizon, but it was there,
the first rainbow I'd seen in perhaps 16 or 17 years. 

Minutes before the day had been dark, the water
storm tossed. Suddenly, with a light rain still falling, 
the sun pressed on through the clouds and there 
was the rainbow, stretching straight on down 
to the water. 

The gray clouds scuttled off and in their place were 
soft white clouds and a blue sky. The rain stopped. 
The waves slowed and the sea grew glittery with the sun; 
it was an entirely different day. 

I sat down on the rocks and smiled, thinking how close to
Mother's Day this rainbow had arrived and how much it reminded 
me of my mother. 

Her whole grown-up life has been about working 
that kind of magic for her kids and her grandkids, taking the dark
moments, the worries, the scrapes, the falls, and replacing
them with something lighter and better, reminding us always to 
wait for the blue sky.