Thursday, August 11, 2005

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.

6 comments:

Michael Lehet said...

Hello Clew,

Thanks for visiting my site and commenting, that means a lot.

I'm very sorry to hear about your friend, but you have shared an amazing story, thank you.

martin said...

hi clew,
thanks for dropping by my blog, its comforting to know that other people can relate to what you're going through no matter how many thousands of miles away they are...

Lori said...

What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures and something that will not be forgotten.

Bougie Black Boy said...

powerfully written!

Mz. Pig said...

stumbled in here from psycho's blog...you're very articulate.
took a cue and did the "100 things." made me cry when i reread.

Memphis said...

Beautiful rainbows, beautiful thoughts