All the waterfalls and all the butterflies and all the rainbows . . .

When I was a little girl, I often told my mother that all the waterfalls and all the butterflies and all the rainbows in the world belonged to me. And rainbows, in particular, seem to be my good-luck token in a way. Just as God placed the rainbow in the sky to promise Noah that there would never be a flood- to show that everything was going to be all right, in a way- when I see a rainbow, it's like a love note from heaven letting me know that things are okay, and that good things are coming. In fact, I have frequently had dreams where rainbows play a major role- often multiple rainbows. This year on the night of my birthday, I dreamed that I saw a quintuple rainbow, and seeing that many stripes of color in the sky made me feel so happy and hopeful that I still felt that joy when I woke up.

Tonight, I had dinner with Aunt Gladys out on her deck. She lives right in downtown Salt Lake. You can walk easily from her town house to the Cathedral of the Madeline, Temple Square, Abravenal Hall, and the state Capitol building. The view was amazing, combined with the light rainfall and the shining sun coming in from the cloudless west. Pretty soon, the sun and rain combined to create a stunning double rainbow against the pearly grey clouds in the east. After Gladys and I enjoyed it for a while, Gladys said, "I think it's a good luck token. I think it's a good luck token for Maria." She didn't know that I already thought of rainbows as my luck token. And all the rainbows do belong to me, after all. I think I picked a pretty good talisman.