The light is weird: bright, bright sun and a collage of clouds at near dusk, and in the eerie I see the start of a rainbow, oh so vivid.
And I cry.
Twice I pull over on the side of the road to gaze and to hold up my little phone with its weak little camera and to marvel and to feel. The second time, it all rises up in me even more as I see that this, this is a full rainbow. A picture of perfect wild cloud light bow.
I cry more.
The rainbow disappears a few minutes later, but the emotions stay with me, full and welcome. Soon I am home, walking inside to where the others are. This is when the feelings vanish — completely from my face, and mostly from my soul. No. Too much. Too emotional. Too personal. Too intense. It's conscious and unconscious, a pulling back and a sudden lurch as something pulls itself out from under me.
Then, I am with the people. Easily, I hold out the stories I’ve collected of the day, I speak fast as I do, I remember excitements and energies and frustrations, all of them true in fact and feeling.
And yet…
There are moments, moments like these, when something more real comes out. Something more real than cynical admissions and little life stories, and I remember what it’s like to be awake. And then I'm afraid of what it's like to be awake.