Rainbow Seeds

It has been raining cats and dogs all across California but today something special happened...my mom and I saw a rainbow. This was a majestic rainbow, long and wide, with the arch stretching for what seemed to be a mile long. My mom started in on a story that happened when my brother and I were pretty young. She was picking us up from school and the same sort of rainbow appeared. Now most logical people understand rainbows as a spectrum of light, appearing when the sun shines on droplets of moisture thus forming the colors we see...and that there are no leprechauns or pots of gold at the end of a rainbow. But to a child, a rainbow is magic. To them there's no real reason why they appear, they just do. Or they would create some fantasy answer like I did. At that age, if you were to ask me how a rainbow formed, I would have told you it grew from rainbow seeds, that someone planted to make other people happy. So there it was, the rainbow someone planted to make other people in my town feel happy. And it shined brightly and joyfully on our youthful hearts. Now I'm sure that day was just like any other day for my mother, and I suppose she had more important things to do than chasing around a myth, but she let it happen. She took us around for hours as we searched excitedly for the riches. Today, I asked her why...and she said in life you have to live in the moment. Back than, nothing was more important than our smiling excited faces...because that's how children are, they live in the moment. There not worried about what's for dinner, they know they are going to eat at some point, the stress behind it is not crucial. But if something wonderful and magical comes along, you have to go see what you can find. I think living in the moment is something we lose when we grow up. What happens that we decide we can't believe in myths, legends or stories? When does reality set in, and why does it always have to be so negative? We never found that pot of gold. But, that doesn't mean we failed. Because the award we received was a happy memory, a family moment, that will be cherished forever. And so what if rainbows are just a factor of meteorological science, and not created by rainbow seeds? I prefer to plant happiness any day.