Y'Know What I Don't Like About Rainbows?

A few weeks ago I was driving from an errand with my younger son.   We were discussing whether music sound engineers are musicians or not.  I used to lead a band, and the sound technicians were sometimes more important than the actual musicians, depending on the venue.  I'm digressing, though. 

While we were talking, this great rainbow appeared in the sky. I stopped listening to my son, who was continuing to talk about music engineering, and tried to get a picture of the rainbow with my cell phone while we were stopped at a red light.  

I took a picture, then I blurted out, 

"Y'know what I don't like about rainbows?"

Rainbows in pictures never look the way we experience them in life. In life they are up and over us - they are beyond us.  In life they bring to mind other worlds.  In photos rainbows look like cheap tricks, like bargain bin holograms in the sky. 

My son has roasted me all week, even to the point of inventing a comedic character whose catchphrase is "You know what I don't like about rainbows?"   What a ridiculous thing to say.  What I actually should have said was, "You know what I don't like about photos of rainbows?"   

But sometimes it takes a while for my brain to catch up with my mouth.   I need to remember that.  But also, that sometimes, you just need to enjoy the rainbow when it's there, and not worry about "saving it for later". 

Dixie Redmond