J's Goodbye

A very wonderful thing happened to me on one of the saddest days of my life.

I found out about J's death on a Friday evening. I'd gotten an email from B about it and while we all knew she was ill, it came as a stunning blow. I just stared at the screen for a few moments, reading it over and over, trying to wrap my head around it.

My daze was broken by a lone thunderclap outside. I looked out and screaming across a bruise-colored sky was a big bright rainbow. This amplified the entire situation to a deafening roar in my head, as J's personality was a true splash of color in the lives of all who knew her. I just stood there and cried.

I had the presence of mind to take a photo. This is the rainbow. If you look closely you may notice it was a double one.

Since the seriousness of J's illness had come into light for those of us who loved her, I'd been casually corresponding with JC, another friend of J's whom I didn't previously know. JC was helping J get news and updates out to people and she and I just began our own string of idle chit chat in the process. In any case, I didn't know JC well but I just wanted to see how she was doing and tell her about the rainbow. I emailed her the story and the photo.

Soon after I received an excited response. JC told me that believe it or not, she too had looked out and seen a rainbow upon learning of J's death.

This is the photo JC sent me.

Since that time, we have believed that God had let J take one last opportunity to let two grieving friends know that she was all right now. This thought is emphasized by the fact that JC and I live states away from each other. Different rainbows, different regions, different times. But the same emotional moment.

For every door that closes, a window opens. I'm happy to say that JC and I are enjoying our new friendship in the shadow of losing our dear soul sister.