Finding Rainbows

September 1, 2024

“Life, it’s ever so strange, it’s so full of change, think that you’ve worked it out then bang, right out of the blue, something happens to you to throw you off course…” - JEM, “Just a Ride”

Sunrise, August 23, 2024

Ah, the best-laid plans. When I’m anxious I plan. I clean, I organize, and I plan. My mind spins up all kinds of things that could go wrong and I attempt to plan for all the contingencies. It sounds reasonable, right? It would be reasonable if my track record for predicting what might go wrong had a higher success rate.

Maybe blue-gray gnatcatchers just hunt more bugs when they are anxious?

This week I had my once-every-five-years screening colonoscopy. The colonoscopy itself went fine, I’m happy to say all was clean and clear. It wasn’t the procedure I was nervous about, it was the prep. I was nervous about doing it RIGHT. The worst outcome I could think of was getting there and finding out the prep was incomplete and having to do it all over again. The internet warned me about this repeatedly.

Perhaps crows don’t get anxious because they don’t read things on the internet.

I had it planned. I (over) bought all the supplies. I took two days off from work. (I’m grateful I have that option!) I followed the instructions to the letter. Everything was proceeding according to plan. I started the prep juice (if you know, you know). And then…

Do chickadees have a plan or do they just go with the flow?

I noticed I felt quite warm. I looked at my thermostat and it said 80 degrees (F). It shouldn’t be 80 degrees in my house, but I was a little busy drinking 32 oz of liquid in an hour and I knew it was 100 degrees outside. It seemed like my air conditioning (AC) was still running, at least air was blowing from the vent.

I often wonder how it is my hummingbird friends don’t seem bothered by the heat!

Twenty minutes later I looked at the thermostat and now it said 84 degrees and there was a big orange warning sign that said something about high-pressure fault. The air was no longer blowing. None of my plans said anything about what to do if the AC went out mid-prep on a 100-degree day!

Do chimney swifts cool themselves off by flying fast enough to create a breeze?

I called the maintenance company who told me they’d put me on the list for a technician that evening but had no idea what the odds of that happening were. When it’s the hottest day of the year, the AC technicians are busy. They said they could work until dark. It was 4:30 and it gets dark about 8 PM. My odds were slim.

My odds of seeing avocets are slim, but sometimes it happens!

I went to the basement - or rather I should say I ran up and down the stairs repeatedly, retreating to the basement when I could and running upstairs a lot because there’s no bathroom in the unfinished basement. I’m happy to report that I’m in good enough shape to do dozens of stair runs in an evening, which I might not have thought I could do.

It would have been a good time to have wings and the speed of a barn swallow.

I texted my sister for commiseration and she kindly suggested I could come to her house. At that moment, unfortunately, I actually couldn’t because driving fifteen minutes was out of the question. I texted my neighbor to ask if it became unbearable could I possibly come to her house - a big ask given the circumstances! She also kindly said yes.

Thank goodness for wonderful family and friends. Barn swallows know this!

Then I waited. I ran up and down the stairs. I turned a fan on in the basement which was a bearable 75 degrees. I waited. I called the maintenance company a few times for updates, likely sounding as desperate as I felt. By 7:30 I knew the AC wasn’t getting fixed.

I think birds, like this eastern kingbird, must accept reality a lot quicker than humans.

I looked at the forecast and thought surely I could open the windows, turn on some fans and it would be bearable in the house by the time I had to do round two at 4 AM. I have a twin bed in the basement for storms and it was still holding at 75 degrees down there. By 4 AM the folly of my choice was apparent - it hadn’t cooled off upstairs. It was still 85 degrees and now it was humid. Nothing much to be done about it at that point but resume racing up and down the stairs and make the best of it.

Butterflies just have to make the best of the heat too.

Last week when I was feeling anxious, I commented on a Jerome Braggs Instagram post that I wanted to relax and chill out but I wasn’t able to do it. He kindly responded with a reel, where he suggested the following:

“Put your hand on your heart, take in a deep breath and affirm, even though I can’t see how right now the outcome of this situation is going to work out in my favor somehow because Life loves me and so the outcome of this is going to further prove this to me.” - Jerome Braggs

After all, Life sends me feather messages all the time to remind me I am loved.

I had been using Jerome’s practice all week, enough that I knew it by heart. I did this repeatedly that night. I did it enough I started to believe it was true. I did it enough I started to think maybe this wasn’t “bad luck” because who knows what might happen? Perhaps that was the delirium of no sleep plus colonoscopy prep, but it opened a little spaciousness in me.

Maybe the feeling of flying is a feeling of spaciousness, especially if your wings are as big as an egret.

The next morning my dad picked me up at 8:30 AM and I was just happy to be going somewhere with air conditioning. My sister kindly volunteered to come over when the AC technician was on his way and work from my hot house while they worked on it. My dad waited four hours with me at the surgery center because they were behind schedule. My sister spent 3 hours in my hot house so the AC could get fixed. I spent the morning feeling both impatient at the delay and loved and blessed by my family.

Do northern parulas feel loved and blessed?

I arrived home to find it wasn’t quite yet fixed and the tech was still there. All I really wanted was some food, a shower, and a nap but again there was not much to be done but eat the soup, hard-boiled eggs, and overnight oats I had in the fridge and wait.

I wouldn’t prefer to eat bugs, but I suppose at least dragonflies don’t have to cook.

The AC tech that came had part of the problem fixed but it still wasn’t quite right. Another tech might have called it good and told me to call back if it went out again, but he was persistent and eventually even called a supervisor out as well. They discovered that the evaporator coil was failing and needed to be replaced. What’s so fortunate about this? It’s still under warranty, so instead of a bill for thousands of dollars, my bill was zero!

Persistence is a super power I share with birds. (blue-gray gnatcatcher)

If a technician had come at the end of their shift after a long, hot day, they might not have been so persistent. If my AC hadn’t failed now, we might not have another extreme heat day this year and by next year it might not be under warranty. Sometimes what looks like very bad luck can be a blessing in disguise.

“Weeds” are blessings in disguise.

At 4:00 PM the technician wrapped up. My AC was working and should keep working until the new evaporator coil arrives. It just had to make it through two more hot days before the cooler air arrived on Friday, which it did. Just as he got it working, it started to rain outside. The outside temperature immediately dropped 10 degrees and by 5:00 it had dropped almost twenty degrees. The AC was able to cool the house in a few hours and I was able to get that shower and sleep in a nice cool bed that evening.

Incoming storm clouds are often beautiful. Sunrise, August 30, 2024.

Life is going to bring rain and storms sometimes, but with the rain sometimes you get rainbows. My rainbows this week came in the form of being loved and cared for and finding kindness at every turn. I even had a conversation with the nurse at the surgery center about birds while I was waiting for my procedure. I have been so blessed.

Morning rainbow, August 30, 2024. This week brought all kinds of rainbows!

Do you see the eye above that double rainbow? I was being watched over.

There were rainbows earlier too, just after sunrise.

Main you find smooth sailing this week, but if storms cross your path, may you also find rainbows.