THANKFUL FRIDAY

The temperatures dropped over night here. One day it was seventy eight degrees and the next day the high was forty six. Then it snowed. Then temperatures dropped to freezing and kids had to bundle up for trick or treating. There’s a whole list of complaints that I could make about it. I definitely did/do not feel ready for freezing temperatures, but to be fair I’m never ready for it.

A big factor in how seasons are determined is the maximum intensity of sunlight in a given area. That intensity changes as the Earth makes it’s way around the sun because of the Earth’s axis tilt. Really digging in to understanding the physics of all of this makes me want to puke and is the reason I am not an Earth scientist or physicist. I much prefer the biology of super tiny things, but my understanding of the very basic physics behind the seasons is how I know what times of the year produce the best rainbows from the glass on my cubicle.

We are creeping into peak rainbow season here in my office.

This week, the most perfect rainbow was projected onto the wall by desk. It was a textbook example of what we would use to teach people about wavelengths and colors. Okay…some physics has rubbed off on me. I can’t do my job in microscopy without some knowledge of how light, excitation and emission wavelengths work. Even though I know how it works, I am still blown away when it happens on my wall or even in the sky because I know how precise the conditions have to be in order to make a rainbow. With outside rainbows that happen after rain, you are lucky to see four distinct colors. Often, one color dominates the others. This happens with the sun and glass on my cubicle too. The rainbow will be more blue, yellow and green and faint. As the season changes into late Fall and early Winter, those colors even out and get brighter. Then comes the days when that rainbow contains the whole roygbiv of colors and it is bright and vibrant.

And it lasts for about five minutes.

I took my picture and then answered an email. Five minutes later I looked at the wall and the rainbow had faded to hints of color. It does not just require the right angle of light and reflective source, but it requires the right time of day. You have to be standing at my desk at precisely 8:19 AM because by 8:24 AM, the rainbow is mostly gone. There’s something miraculous in all of this, that it happens at all, that light is white until we bounce it through different refractive indexes and surfaces. Knowing the science behind the how and why light does this doesn’t diminish the amazement and joy I feel whenever I encounter a rainbow happening.

In fact, I think that knowing the science behind it and how everything has to be perfectly aligned to make a rainbow happen, makes the experience of seeing one an awe inspiring event every time.

THANKFUL FRIDAY

There were a couple of minutes left before my class started Wednesday evening. My students were sitting on their mats in various states of chatting with neighbors and stretching. I was looking around the room, accessing my students, the class plan I had made for us that evening and making sure everyone had the props they would need for that class. Then I turned and glanced out the window to see the most perfect rainbow arching all the way across the sky. Each color in the spectral range between 700nm and 400nm was bright and distinct. Notice how I just reverted to science nerd speak, but that was where my mind went when I saw this rainbow. I immediately broke the colors down into their respective wavelengths. I instinctively reached for my camera, that was not with me. 

I don't take my phone or my camera into my yoga classes. I leave those things in my scooter trunk or the glovebox in my car for obvious reasons.

I was reminded of a scene from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Walter Mitty travels the planet in search of Sean O'Connell, a photographer he works with in order to retrieve a roll of special film or something. He's looking for the answer to a question and Sean O'Connell is thought to have that answer. So Walter heads out on a search that has him traveling the globe. When he finally catches up to the famous photographer, they are in the snowy mountain ranges in Tibet. Sean O'Connell has been camped out in front of his camera there for days trying to capture images of the illusive snow lion. Walter sits with Sean, shivering in the cold, when suddenly a snow lion appears. Sean moves to take the picture, but he pauses. Walter asks him when is he going to take the picture and Sean responds "Sometimes I don't. If I like a moment, for me, personally, I don't like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it." 

"I don't like to have the distraction of the camera."

This scene remains one of my favorite and (to me) most beautiful lessons on being present. The distraction of the camera is the very reason why I leave them behind when I go in to teach my yoga class. My main focus and concern is for my students. When that rainbow showed up just before I started class, we all experienced the joy of seeing the beauty of that moment together. We marveled at the brightness of the colors and the clear separation of those colors and then I started class. That rainbow was with us all throughout our practice and when I walked out to my car there was still a section of faded colors streaking across the sky. And that is the rainbow I captured on my phone.

I am thankful for reminders to just be in a moment. 

I am thankful for rainbows. 

THANKFUL FRIDAY

Rainbow 🌈

12 Likes, 2 Comments - Cindy Maddera (@elephant_soap) on Instagram: "Rainbow 🌈"

Wednesday evening, I was putting my things in my car before yoga class so that I wouldn't have to lug in my backpack and lunch bag. There was a sizable gray cloud sitting over us, dumping buckets of rain, but the sun had broken through in the west and was shining through the rain. I grabbed my phone and ran to the other side of the parking garage because I had a feeling that something spectacular was going to appear in the east. I knew that the conditions were perfect rainbow making conditions. And there is was. A giant arching rainbow stretched it's way across the eastern skyline. I hesitated to take the shot at first because I was sort of stopped in my tracks by how close to my human body the rainbow seemed to be. 

Usually, when we see rainbows, they are off in the distance. They appear unreachable. I remember there was a moment during our drive to the Alabama coast when we had reached a particularly flat area of Missouri, maybe close to the Tennessee boarder. It had rained on us as we drove through Missouri (or at least every time Michael was behind the wheel, it rained; the minute I took over the rain would stop and he'd go ballistic). We were traveling along a small highway and, in what seemed like far off in the distance, we could see a rainbow from end to end. It was the kind of rainbow you would chase because you knew that there had to be a pot of gold at the end. We never got close to that rainbow, even though we were driving towards it. The rainbow I witnessed on Wednesday had a visible start/end. I could have easily walked over to the neighborhood and been standing in the foot of that rainbow.

I don't think I have ever seen, so clearly, the actual foot of a rainbow. It was clear enough for me to determine that it was at least in the parking lot of the Gates BBQ place over there. I know many of you are thinking 'pots of BBQ gold!'. Gates is supposed to be one Kansas City's best. I wouldn't know because there's nothing on their menu that doesn't contain meat, but this would not stop me from running over to their parking lot in order to stand under an actual rainbow foot. Time was the limiting factor in this case because that part of the rainbow faded and disappeared before I could take a second shot. I was lucky to get that first picture. I was reminded of a scene from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Walter finally tracks down this photographer he's been looking for all over the globe. The photographer, played by Sean Penn, has been staked out on a snowy mountain waiting to get a rare shot of a snow leopard. When the leopard finally appears, he hesitates. He doesn't take the shot, instead he just looks at the leopard. The photographer tells Walter that sometimes it's about not taking the picture. 

I am thankful for that moment before I took the picture. I am thankful for the realization that I was witnessing something new through my eyes and not through a lens. Sure, I'm pretty happy and thankful that I got a picture, but that moment just before was the sweetest. 

I am thankful for all of those who registered to attend my yoga workshop tomorrow. I'm still a little amazed that people were so interested. I am also a tiny bit nervous. I am thankful for the sun that has been bright and shining these last two days. I am thankful clean sheets. I am thankful for this body as it is in this moment. I am thankful for Moon Cheese. And as always, I am thankful for you. Hope your weekend is simply fantastic and your Friday is truly a Thankful Friday.

LOVE THURSDAY

I wanted to punch Tuesday in the face. I'm not going to sugar coat or pretend like I didn't get ragey. I got ragey. It started with getting my windshield replaced. A rock hit my windshield back in December. I've been watching a crack slowly creep it's way from one side of the windshield to the other, right at eye level. Every time I'd get in my car for the last two months, I've had a nice little knot settle in the pit of my stomach and I could swear that I could hear the glass cracking. Finally tax money came in and I scheduled the glass repair company to come to my workplace to replace the windshield. I received a call just a few minutes before that scheduled time from the glass place asking me if I could bring my car into the shop. Like right now. So I drove twenty minutes, waited for about forty five minutes for them to replace the windshield, argued over the price because they had tried to charge me the fee for coming to me, and drove twenty minutes back to work.

Once back at my desk, I was greeted with an email from the realty company that I was going through to rent a condo for our vacation in June. The realtor, Kylee, said that the unit I had already put a down payment on was no longer available, but they had this other unit for $66.60 more. The more I thought about this, the angrier I got. I could take that other unit and pay a little bit more. I mean $66.60 isn't a huge price jump, but now I was distrustful of this company. I could clearly see an email coming to me next month saying "hey...that unit you booked for $66.60 more than the unit you first booked is no longer available. But here's another unit for $200 more!" So I immediately went into must-fix-vacation mode and started looking into other options. I made some inquiries and I'm still waiting to hear back, but by golly! I am not paying more money for that condo! 

Then things at work got irritating and I spent an hour waiting for tech support to call me back, which they never did. And because I'd left work in the middle of the day to get my windshield replaced, I had to stay a little later at work. I sat at my desk and stewed in silence. Tuesday had just made me the angriest of angries. Finally, I made my way home. I walked in the front door and Michael and Josephine where on the couch. Josephine's head popped up and Michael looked at her and asked "who's that, Josephine?". Her little nub of a tail started wagging and my heart lifted a little. I told Michael about all the things of the day with Josephine tucked under my arm. Then I kissed Michael and we made jambalaya and spent the evening on the couch with the dog. At one point I looked at Michael, Josephine chewing on her stuffed turtle between us, and I said "this makes everything better." And it did. 

I am not a person that comes home raging about the little inconveniences of my day. When I do, it's nice to come home to someone who can listen with empathy. And when I apologized for being gripey, Michael said "It's OK. Not every day can be rainbows and lollipops." Playing a round of fetch with Josephine didn't hurt either. No. Not every day can be rainbows and lollipops, but it certainly can end with rainbows and lollipops. The next morning I got in my car and looked clearly through the front windshield without a knot in my gut. I also had plan for how to fix our vacation and have emailed Kylee to request a refund on my deposit. I erased Tuesday with a better Wednesday. 

Happy Love Thursday. May this day be better than yesterday and yesterday better than the day before.