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Sunday, August 31, 2008

The End of the Rainbow



















As I said in my last post, my life is full of rainbows. While I usually love rainbows, this particular rainbow I call the “rainbow of doom”, because it was seemingly never-ending. I painted it in our church and it meanders down one long hallway, turns the corner and then down another long hallway. I painted it with my airbrush and managed to set off the fire alarm at least a half a dozen times. This picture doesn’t even show half of it. At night I have been having nightmares where people at the church start saying things like “oh lets make the rainbow keep going down another hallway and another hallway and then wrap around the entire church!” and then I attack them by spraying them with my airbrush which I have filled with, not paint, but pepper spray. And then I feel really bad for doing that.


But yesterday was a good rainbow day, because many wonderful souls came to the church to help paint the blue “sky” around the rainbow- probably around a dozen people. I was so happy to see the rainbow project finally coming to an end. I may have been getting a little bit too giddy because at one point I blurted out “We need to have a gay pride festival here now!!!”. That’s when the area fell very silent. My dear husband finally broke the silence by saying, “you would say that, Naomi”. And he would say that (in fact, he does say that quite a few times a day). My comment probably would have gone over better in a different crowd of people.


But speaking of gayness and rainbows, it really is unfair that the gay people have a monopoly on the rainbow symbol to represent diversity. It should belong to every fantastical individual out there. It should belong to conjoined twins, dwarfs, those with speech impediments and those that walk funny. It should belong to extraordinarily ugly people and those who are exceptionally photogenic too. It should belong to people with odd cowlicks and people with weird moles. Most of all, it should belong to people who can’t help themselves from saying the wrong thing at the wrong time (and are named Naomi). It should belong to everyone who God created with crazy nuances and unusual particularities that make this world such a colorful, vibrant and unpredictable place to live.

I love living at the end of the rainbow, waiting to see what colors are coming next. It’s best when I don’t make my own plans, because they never come close to comparing to the colors God comes up with. Tomorrow is Labor Day. I don’t have any plans. I can’t wait to see what happens.

The end of the rainbow.

14 comments:

Cassie said...

i would have laughed.
does that make me inappropriate?
remember my post on "sometimes i wonder"? i laugh. always. sometimes inappropriately...but i think it's good for the soul. and i think rainbows are fantastic.
what's funny to me is that i'm sure all those people that heard you will never look at that rainbow again without thinking of your comment. and that's a good thing.

Naomi Haverland said...

If you had laughed, I would have said "What? You think I'm joking?" and then there would have been another awkard silence....

Cassie said...

ha...got your comment in regards to the bible quoting ninja skills practicing christian boy in the hotel. insane. i left it there, because it was actually quite ridiculous. didn't even respond. BUT...i do have sitemeter and my anon comment came from colorado springs. hmmmmmm....

and i really don't think there would have been an awkward silence.

Anonymous said...

You are right! Rainbows should be for everyone! It's not fair for one special interest group to hijack it away from everyone.

I've been known to blurt out funny, but not always wise things at the wrong time/place, too. *G* Don't sweat it. Life is too short to worry about these kind of little things. Keep painting those endless rainbows, *snerk* and keep on enjoying the ride.

Naomi Haverland said...

Cassie, I am pretty shocked by your anon blog harrasser. I hope I didn't not add fuel to the fire, especially because I know neither of you... I just couldn't help but feel a little ticked.

Cassie said...

no worries.
glad someone stuck up for me! :)
nasty anonymous comments are not fun to receive...especially when i was not trying to be super controversial or anything. just sharing a fun little video clip. i never really understand why someone would want to secretly say mean things to another person. but oh well. no big deal. (although i did have to stop and think "wait, was i being totally inconsiderate?" and then i remembered that it was quite possibly the loudest and most fun hotel i had ever stayed in!)

jody said...

Unlike Cassie, I don't laugh at everything. Hardly ever out loud. I always tell Andy that I am "laughing on the inside."
However, I laugh out loud almost every time i read your blog. You should be very proud. :-)

Loved that. Could totally picture the hallway filled with nursery workers and bible study leaders and naomi.

Cassie said...

naomi, is it weird to say even though i don't know you, i want to be your friend?!
:)
sorry about the madness over there. i kinda just feel like hanging out over here in the land of rainbows and gay pride festivals for a while...

Naomi Haverland said...

The drama on your blog is incredibly entertaining. I don't know why.
But, yeah, you should stay and hang out for a while. Would you like me to paint your toenails? I have lots of different colors.

Stacy said...

I love the rainbow...it's got so much personality!! It's very adverturous...like "Where will it take me if I follow it?!" It make you hope for a pot of gold at the end...or a plate of chocolate chip cookies!!

Anonymous said...

I love the rainbow and the comment. Everyone makes comments like that from time to time and everyone takes comments the wrong way from time to time. I think I would rather be the one making the wrong comments than the one unable to see the humor in the comment in the first place and it does make the hall look like it belongs in a gay church. You should be proud.

Holly said...

the rainbow is too cool but what I loved most is that someone else thinks that the rainbow shouldn't be 'owned' by one group of people
my friend and I have talked about going and buying rainbow bumper stickers in protest ;-)
maybe I'll just have you paint this cool one on my car instead!

Naomi Haverland said...

Just to clarify, I hold no resentment against gays for claiming the rainbow. I am sure they meant no harm in it. And, ofcourse, they do represent a stripe of their own in it- especially the flambouyant ones.

WARREN and TRACI Lotter ________________ said...

The rainbow is more impressive in person.
BTW, South Africa is called "the rainbow nation" so I guess WE own the rainbow!!