Over the Rainbow

When she was a little girl, Annie's grandpa would tell her a story every night before she went to bed. Then they would discuss it. Over the years, she heard many, some happy, some sad. With each story, she would be taken to a magical far away world, where anything could be possible if you just believed hard enough. And she did. With each story, Annie, being a wide-eyed child standing at a door that opens to endless possibilities, stood excitedly, just waiting to open it.

Of course, as Annie grew up, life happened. As she learned how challenging it could be, there were times that she found herself losing some of that wide-eyed anything is possible mentality that she once had. After all, when you're little, the world is brand new. There is no such thing as impossible. But then one day you suddenly realize, it isn't always that simple.

Some quiet evenings, Annie liked to go outside and sit under the stars, and she would think back on the stories her grandpa would tell her all those years ago. Some she still believed in quite strongly. After all, as she looked up, she would still pick the brightest star in the sky, close her eyes tightly, and say those words she would say as she sat in the back seat on the way home from family vacations, "Star Light, Star Bright, wish a wish for me tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might, on the first star I see tonight, I wish..." whatever was her heart's desire. She still believed in ghosts. And she believed in keeping that child in her, the one that still dared to dream, though sometimes, that could prove to be challenging.

One of her favorite stories that she had heard when she was a kid was about the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. She loved the idea that if she could find a rainbow and follow it to the end, she would come into this huge wealth. Growing up, she seldom saw any rainbows at all, almost to the point where she thought rainbows themselves were simply myths. The first time she saw one, she couldn't believe it. Up in the sky were all of these beautiful colors unlike anything she had ever seen before. Her face shined about as brightly with excitement and hope.

As she looked at it, she imagined being able to follow it. She thought of walking this path, something like the yellow brick road from the Wizard of Oz, finally coming up to this kind old leprechaun who would then award her with a huge pot of gold. Of course, by now she was old enough to know that this wouldn't happen. Besides, the rainbow was huge, it would take an eternity to get from the beginning of it to the end. Even so, it was a fun idea of what if.

One day, she read that rainbows were actually a sign from the heavens. After the flood that caused Noah to build the Ark. the rainbow appeared to let people know that there would never be a flood as bad as that one again. After that, Annie realized something very important. In a way, there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Even though you can't touch it or see it's there. The rainbow comes after a bad storm. At a time when the skies are so dark and scary, loud bolts of lightning shoot through the sky. After all of that, the sun reappears and this incredible rainbow with all of its beautiful colors, reminding us that through all of the storms, there is always a rainbow at the end, and everything will be ok. And that knowledge is worth more then it's weight in gold.