Storms and Rainbows

We've had an extremely stormy weekend here in Maine.  Lots of thunderstorms and even a few tornadoes.  Luckily, it wasn't been a total washout since we had plenty of intervals of sun in between the storm cells.  I took this picture as one such storm approached yesterday.  I have always loved storms, except as a really small child when I used to hide in my mom's bed whenever the going got rough (that's normal though...right?).  I'll never forget the day when things changed for me and storms got "cool".  I was in 8th grade and had the chance to watch a storm slowly advance from a distance through my bedroom window.  I'm not sure why, but something in my mindset changed that day and ever since I've been a big fan of storms...thunder, snow, all of the above.  I'm a bad weather junkie of sorts.  I wouldn't classify myself as a true storm chaser per say, but I have been known to drive a few hours in pursuit of violent weather.  I'm lucky where I live now.  Maine gets it's fair share of exciting weather.  Snow, ice, thunder, hail, we seem to get it all (don't worry, we have a lot of really nice weather too).  In my downtown Portland apartment on the fourth floor of my building, I have a west, north, and east facing exposure.  I can see all the way to New Hampshire (I can see Mount Washington and much of the Presidential Mountains on most clear days).  This is great on weekends like this one since I can see a storm coming from hundreds of miles away (it's also great for sunsets!).  Yesterday's parade of storms was like "must see TV" for a storm aficionado such as me.  I literally stood at the window and watched as storm after storm came and went.  And, in the end as you would expect, there was a beautiful rainbow over town.  As much as I love storms, I always look forward to rainbows.  They are the reward for putting up with storms. 

Wouldn't it be nice if in life we had rainbows after putting up with life's "storms"?  Maybe we do.  Maybe they are just less obvious.  Hmmmm.  You know, I bet we are surrounded by rainbows in life and we are just so focused on what's wrong to notice them.  Let's try to find more rainbows.  Sure, the "storms" are always going to be there.  But we need storms to have the rainbow in the end.  My wish for you is to find more rainbows in YOUR life.  Until next time...love and rainbows to you and yours...