One thing I got in the habit of doing as my daughter was growing up, because she hated turning out the light at the end of the day, was to remind her to have dreams about rainbows and butterflies. I wanted her to have happy thoughts as she went to sleep and help her to have wonderful dreams. Well over the years she has developed an even bigger fascination with butterflies – we have them decorating her room. But I didn’t realize how giddy she became over seeing rainbows until last week. We were driving home in the afternoon following some afternoon storms and we spotted this rainbow along the highway. She was so excited and kept talking about it and begged me to stop and take this picture. My heart fluttered to hear the expression in her voice as she described it.
This moment reminded me once again what I learn from my children over and over again: to stop and smell the roses, or in this case, stop and take a picture. Even in the littlest of things, they can find such pleasure and joy. And if we will allow ourselves the moments to “be still” we can appreciate the moment and their joy as well. Too many times I have been guilty of hurrying through and shushing them instead of pulling over and taking a picture to halt the moment in time on film for further enjoyment down the road.
I will treasure this photo and it will always remind me of how excited she was to finally see a rainbow… her first rainbow.
