“Searchin’ For A Rainbow” is the title song on the 4th album by The Marshall Tucker Band. It was written by the late Toy Caldwell and released in 1975. I have a personal connection with The Marshall Tucker Band. My cousin, George McCorkle, played rhythm guitar and banjo in the group. Mom and I were visiting his grandmother in Chester, South Carolina soon after this album was released. She asked me if I had ever heard of The Marshall Tucker Band, and I replied, “Of course!” then she informed me that George was a member of the band. Needless to say, I thought that was pretty cool (and I still do!)! This post, however, is not about my cousin, his band, or visiting family in South Carolina. It is about one of my favorite topics, and people, David. On a recent evening, David hurried into the room where I was busy doing something mundane and said, “Hurry! Hurry! You’ve got to come outside with me now!” We are both fond of watching sunsets, but it was not time for the sun to set, nor was David hurrying through the house toward the west. Instead, he was hurrying me through the front door, which faces east. As soon as I stepped outside, I saw the reason for the fanfare: There was a rainbow, an entire rainbow, in all of its glory, in the eastern sky! Woo hoo! It was absolutely perfect and we both stood there for a few minutes, marveling at the beauty we were seeing. When we walked back inside the house, I asked David how he saw the rainbow, which could not have been seen from any room inside the house. He replied, “I went looking for it. I knew the conditions were perfect for a rainbow. It’s drizzling rain, the sun is shining, and it’s humid.” I was astounded by his response, therefore, I clarified it by asking, “Wait a minute. Do you mean you actually stopped everything else you were doing to walk outside and look for a rainbow?” David answered, “Yes, I did. I know how much you love seeing them!” Wow! David actually went “searchin’ for a rainbow”! And found one!
I didn’t think that much about searching for that rainbow. I just figured it had to be visible. There was bright sunshine in the west and some light rain to the east. The low angle of the afternoon sun was a plus! So, when the stars aligned, it was time to check it out. Pausing to see such an amazing natural event is worth the few minutes required. We get our share of rainbows in Florida when rain clouds move though in such ways that it sometimes rains on one side of a street and stays dry on the other side. But, nowhere I’ve been compares in rainbows to Hawai’i. Melissa and I have been fortunate enough to spend some time there, on several islands. And, on all of them, seeing more than one rainbow a day was the norm. Some were small and partial, others full and glowing. The one near our house Melissa wrote about was a perfect, inverted U shape. Unfortunately, in photographic terms, there wasn’t much of interest in the foreground. I’ve only photographed a few rainbows that were full and had an interesting foreground. One memorable one was when we were staying at a beach house – the rainbow over the Gulf of Mexico was bright and bold. I got a little wet taking the photo, but it was worth it. That image lives on my office wall today. This recent one did not result in a photo, not even with a phone camera, therefore, it will just have to be one of those times when I “take a photo in my mind” (a saying attributed to my younger brother, Stephen). I’ll keep searchin’ for more rainbows!
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