Just after I passed “Merge of Death 1 & 2” yesterday, I spotted a rainbow on the left hand side of the road. As I drove, the rainbow got larger until I was a mile away from the house and it was a complete half circle just above my neighborhood.
On our way to my grandmother’s house after she’d passed away, we saw a similar rainbow. I was 17, a junior in high school and completely devastated by her illness and death. That had been such a hard year. Grandmother, Granddaddy and Dad had all been sick. I’m not sure how my mother survived. I will never forget the day Grandmother called to tell mom the cancer had returned. Mom was sitting at the kitchen table, as she normally did when she and Grandmother talked, and I was in the living room listening in. I remember hearing my mother say something along the lines of not wanting to lose her.
We knew she’d been feeling bad. We’d taken her on a quick vacation a few weeks before and she’d been in a great deal of pain. After her fight against breast cancer 5 years earlier, I think she instinctively knew the cancer had returned and simply didn’t want to face another war. At the time, I was pretty, well, mad, at Grandmother. I thought if she’d gone to the doctor earlier, they could have caught it in time for her to fight and maybe be with us a few more years. Now I realize, her decision had nothing to do with not wanting to be with us but more about her desire to be whole again without pain in the Lord’s presence. I can’t blame her.
So I was thinking about all of this and about all the things I would miss sharing with her when I saw the rainbow outside the car window just over 14 years ago. I’ve never been a big believer in “signs”. I think almost everything can be interpreted as a sign so mostly I take those sorts of things at face value. It may be the only part about me that doesn’t over analyze. Other people see signs and truly believe and that’s fine with me. Instead, I believe in symbols. And that’s what the rainbow was. A symbol that reminded me of God’s promises to us. He was with Grandmother when she left this world and He was there when she entered the gates of heaven. He was with mom helping her manage the stress of it all and with her two months later when we spent Mother’s Day going through Grandmother’s belongings. I remember thanking the Lord for reminding me that He’s with us always. 
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