The Pot of Gold

It's been sort of a dark week. Family matters (my mom's health), work load (two manuscripts landed! 700 pages of rewrite due when???) and the weather (dark, cold, rainy). Then suddenly today the skies cleared and a magnificent rainbow arched clear across the canyon.

I tend to get a little overly excited by things like rainbows and moon rises and deer grazing in our yard. And although I used to run for my camera, I've learned that I prefer to just enjoy the moment. Before I know it, the rainbow will fade and vanish, the moon will leave the horizon behind, and the deer will flick their tails and move on.

I no longer want to live the moment trying to capture the moment.

I just want to live the moment.

So soaking in the rainbow today (while Mark ran for his camera), I thought about the proverbial pot of gold. When I was a child, I believed in the pot of gold. It was probably a hope more than a belief. but still, I harbored enough of a hope that I chased after it a few times.

Today, I could actually see the end of the rainbow and it was very clear that there was no pot of any kind. There was simply a field, with a few cows. Not a leprechaun in sight.

I wondered at chasing for gold. How when you want it so badly, it just eludes you. The end of the rainbow keeps shifting, keeps changing, keeps disappearing.

And it occurred to me that the rainbow, in all its dazzling beauty, is the pot of gold. By chasing after something more you lose what's right in front of you.

So, reflecting on the bright and beautiful, I've decided that the colors of my rainbow for this week are:

• The people who have been leaving me comments at previous postings at this blog. You guys are crazy and I love you! (And I will answer your Sammy questions at the entries where you posted them.)
• The out-of-the-blue call from a screen writer who loves Swear to Howdy (my little overshadowed book that is so near and dear to my heart) and wants to write the screenplay for it.
• A report from someone who has seen a preliminary screening (without music) of Flipped and says (breathlessly) that "it's brilliant".
• A counter on the Internet that reports that there are "only" 277 days until the premier of Flipped.
• The unexpected gift of a cut glass punchbowl that belonged to Mark's grandmother.
• The friends who took the time and braved the storm to jingle bell rock the night away.
• My family, whole and healthy and home.

Who needs a pot of gold?