rainbows – *the gratitude-a-thon

I’ve always loved Oprah. In the early days of her show, when I was a freelancer, or pregnant with epic morning sickness, Oprah gave my day some structure and often a hit of heart. She’s lost some of her appeal for me, but I have to say that when I watch Super Soul Sunday, I see that she’s just trying to get out the really important messages to a mass audience. This one from Dani Shapiro, author of “Devotion,”is really right on. “Recognizing the possiiblity of the divine in any given moment.” I do believe the full/half double rainbow over the soccer field yesterday, which stopped the whole crowd in its tracks, was one of those moments to take in. An ordinary ass whooping became something I will never forget. You had to take notice. And I did. (Partly because it was actually so incredibly unusual, I thought it could be the freaking Rapture.) Anyway, this is a good reminder to be present. Gratitude goes to Ms. Shapiro today.

Ally has become obsessed with the Whitey Bulger trial. She wants to go, because she feels like we’re so close to it, and it’s history, so somehow we should see it in person. So, we did the next best thing, and last night after a pretty intense thunder storm, we watched The Departed. I had forgotten how absolutely amazing (and super violent) that movie is. The performances are spectacular. One after another. Jack Nicholson, with his crazy hair, wicked little smile and larger than life swagger, as the Bulger character, Matt Damon playing a totally evil cop, Leonardo DiCaprio in the only role I’ve ever liked him in–a smart Statie, who’s gone undercover. You can actually smell his fear and feel the wheels of his brain working, Alec Baldwin playing a detective that could have been on 30 Rock, and Mark Wahlberg with the best Boston accent this side of Southie. There are about bajillion hilarious lines that come fast and furious. It’s just a real work of art.

Anyway, as we were watching, Ally was, as usual, on her phone checking Facebook. She announced there was a double rainbow. I didn’t immediately get up to look, because I figured if it was on Facebook, it probably wouldn’t still be out there, but no slouch on the Facebook front myself, I clicked in too, and within literally seconds, the whole page filled with pictures of the rainbows. Ally and I ran outside and caught one, although it was quickly fading and too light to capture on our phones. So, today, the gratitude-a-thon is stealing some of those amazing rainbow photos to share. Because, as good as The Departed was, double rainbows are even better.