When Life Cancels Your Walk and Sends a Rainbow Instead

Today started with one goal: get the dogs outside before they staged a tiny mutiny. My wife and I leashed up our furry little anarchists and stepped into what looked like a promising morning. The sky was bright, the birds were doing their overachieving Disney thing, and for a moment, I thought we were in for a peaceful walk. Naturally, the universe overheard that optimism and decided to intervene. Two minutes in, the clouds darkened like a moody teenager, and a light drizzle started—one of those polite, passive-aggressive rains that pretends it’s no big deal until you’re soaked and grumpy.

We could’ve powered through, but the whole point was to give the dogs a decent walk, not a quick dash followed by a blow-dry session and the smell of wet regret. So we turned around, soggy and sulking, while I muttered something about how unfair it was that we’d planned this so perfectly. Chronic illness already cancels enough of my plans; did the weather really have to join in?

As we were about to enter the house—just long enough for me to start mumbling about how life has the worst timing—a rainbow decided to show up. Not one of those half-hearted ones you have to squint to see. No, this was a full, glorious, “look at me” arc of color stretching across the sky like nature’s apology note. It was obnoxiously beautiful. The kind of rainbow that looks Photoshopped and makes you forget you were just complaining about something as trivial as drizzle.

And there it was—the universe doing that smug little thing it does when it hands you a moral lesson wrapped in glitter. Because standing there in my damp hoodie, I had to laugh at myself. I’d been so focused on the inconvenience, on the small disappointment of a canceled walk, that I almost missed the moment that made it all worth it.

Life’s like that a lot, isn’t it? Chronic illness, heartbreak, disappointment—they all have this terrible way of showing up uninvited, wrecking your plans, and tracking mud through your mental living room. But sometimes, when you least expect it, they also leave behind something beautiful. The irony is, you wouldn’t notice the rainbow without the rain. You wouldn’t know joy without the mess that came before it.

I’ve learned—slowly, stubbornly—that the rough days don’t always mean something’s gone wrong. Sometimes they’re just part of the setup. The drizzle before the color. The delay before the reminder that life, for all its nonsense, still knows how to surprise you.

So yeah, I didn’t get my walk today. But I got a rainbow. A bright, unapologetic, “you’re welcome” from the same sky that just drenched me. And honestly, I think I needed that more than fresh air.

If you’ve ever had one of those days where the universe throws a tantrum and then hands you perspective on a silver platter, I’d love to hear it. Drop a comment below and tell me about your own rainbow moment. And if you’re in the middle of a storm right now—literal or otherwise—hang in there. The rainbow’s coming. Eventually. It always does.

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