Double Rainbow

I saw a double rainbow this week. It was gorgeous and stretched across the sky. I always feel blessed when I see a double rainbow. I feel like momentous things are around the corner. I feel like promises are being kept. I want to throw my hands up in the air and do a happy dance. It's a great feeling.

For the weekly update, I'm almost finished with my passage gig. I think I wrote my favorite two passages this week: Stan Lee and Marie Curie.

Stan planned on being a great writer someday but got tangled up with what he felt was the lowest of the low writing in the early forties -- comic books. I totally identify with a writer who needs a paycheck. As this young writer and editor of comic books (only 20) dreamed of doing something worthwhile in the writing field, he wrote endless comic book scripts.

One day he snapped and thought he would quit. He took a leap of faith and wrote what he wanted to: The Fantastic Four was born. Here were superheroes with no super secret identities. They had fun. These heroes squabbled like a family and half the time having superpowers sucked. Next, Stan came up with The Incredible Hulk, Spider-man, Thor (a personal favorite) and then the X-men popped up (Note, my daughter is named after one of the X-men. Can you guess which one?)

The thing that inspires me about Stan Lee, instead of moving on to "important" stuff, he elevated comic books into an art form. He reminds me of Atlas. I can think of few writers for young people that have had such a far reaching effect in our society. Still, I have yet to attend one children's conference that even acknowledges his existence. Hmmm.

A quote from Stan,

Excelsior!"

(This is really packaging material, but it sounds cool. Let us always remember we are the wordsmiths.)


Marie Curie has always been a role model for me. From a young age, she had noble (ha, ha) purposes. She was a scientist, a teacher, a writer, a mom and life-long learner. I read her autobiography in high school and again in college. I even majored in chemistry in college. It took me time to take her lessons and apply them to my life. The idea of pushing on regardless of the trouble--I've been so grateful that she pushed on and told others to do that too. Her example of strength has helped me through many hard times.

Here's a quote from Marie:

All my life through, the new sights of nature made me rejoice like a child.