I am one of those people who loves symbolism, who embraces coincidence as an old friend (because we all know it’s not really just coincidence), who gets excited to find meaning here and there and everywhere. It just makes life more interesting and fun to me to be constantly on alert for that thread that connects us all, that flows through everything. I love seeing hints of it, a frayed end here, a little piece of it there. It’s all around, if only you’re open to seeing it.
So when the rain finally broke yesterday here in Nola, we decided to walk over to the French Quarter for some ice cream. Seems as good a way to spend the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina as anything else. And there, right in the sky, was a rainbow stretching itself over the Quarter from end to end. It looked as though it started in Jackson Square, and maybe it did. Sure, maybe it’s just meaningless and could have happened on any other old day. But I like to think there’s a little something extra there — lagniappe, if you will… A sign, a moment of recognition, a brief minute of light and color shining on the city on a day when many of us were thinking about those who lost their lives, and those who lost everything but, on that awful day five short/long years ago. A rainbow. Maybe nothing more. But maybe a whole lot more, if only you believe.
