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Rainbow
Rainbow Meadows had spentmost of her life trying to come up with creative new names to call herself. Kids would tease her mercilessly and when she turned seven, she swore to her parents that she was going to grow up and change her name. Of course, her mother told her that she and Rainbow’s father had taken great care in giving her the name Rainbow. Honestly, she wondered just how true that was. How did they miss that her last name was Meadows? She sounded like a total hippy and not a talented photographer that was making quite a name for herself on the local scene.
Rainbow was in high demand as one of the community’s best wedding photographers, and she loved her job. She just worried that no one would ever take her seriously after she told them her name. Eventually, she started going by Rain, shortening her birth name, and she had to admit, it seemed to work for her.
Rain walked into her studio that she rented downtown and dumped her bags onto her desk. When she first started working in the photo industry, she couldn’t afford a studio. Hell, she could barely afford her studio apartment, but she found a way. Soon, she found herself living in a two-bedroom apartment, using one of the bedrooms as her makeshift office. That all changed once she started booking two or more weddings a weekend. Sure, it was tricky, but when there was a will, there was a way. At least, that’s what her mother always told her.
That saying turned out to be her motto in high school when she figured out that she didn’t want to go to college. She had to explain to her parents that she wanted to take some photography classes and they convinced her to at least do so at the community college. She ended up with enough credits to get her AA degree and that was enough for her, even if it never seemed to be for either of her parents.
Rainbow’s father argued that she had chosen a career that would never pay the rent, and at the time, he was right. But then, she started making money and moved to her two-bedroom apartment, making him eat his words. Maybe that was what she needed—a push to do better, be better, but she wondered if she’d ever be enough. They made her feel like a disappointment at every turn and that plain sucked, even if it pushed her to the next level.
She finally saved enough to have a separate workspace and decided that a studio downtown was the best place to continue to grow her budding business. She loved the street that her office was on—it was always so lively. Her apartment was on a quiet street on the West side of town, but her office was located in the heart of the city where all of the action took place. She loved having the best of both worlds and Rain was sure that she had life all figured out. Well, that was until she got the invite to be the photographer for a wedding in France.
Her favorite wedding planner, Poppy, called her and asked if she’d be willing to photograph a wedding for a client that she had who wanted a destination wedding. Rain had done a few destination weddings—most of them being held on a beach at some tropical location. But she never dreamed that she’d get to shoot a wedding in France. If she allowed herself to dream of the perfect location for a wedding, she’d choose France, but she just never thought that she’d land a gig like that.
Apparently, the bride and groom had an unlimited budget and wanted to bring over a photographer. They said that it would be easier to work with Rain after the actual wedding day was over and they had to discuss edits. They used local talent for flowers, food, spirits, and even the cake. But they wanted an American-based photographer, and for that, Rain was grateful.
The only catch was that the wedding was in just over a month and she’d have to cancel two other gigs to be in France for the whole weekend. She’d never canceled on any of her clients, but her brain was chanting, “France, France, France,” over and over in her head, and what else could she do? She called to cancel her two clients and let Poppy know that she’d be in France with bells on—and well, her camera too, to take pictures of the happy couple’s big day. Poppy seemed thrilled, and she was getting a free trip out of the deal—win, win in Rain’s book.
She decided to share her exciting news with her parents, wanting to rub it in a bit that she had landed an international photography job, even if her clients were American. Her parents didn’t need to know that part though. Rain would keep that information to herself as she shared about her trip to France.
She pulled her cell phone from her pocket and dialed her mother. Out of the two of them, her mom would answer while her dad would let the call go to voicemail every time. He hated answering his cell phone, which caused many fights between her parents.
“Hi, Rainbow,” her mother answered. “I knew that it was you because of the caller ID.”
“I know, Mom,” she said. Caller ID had been around since before Rainbow was even born, yet her mother liked to point out that she knew exactly who was calling her because of the name that popped up on her phone.
“Why are you calling?” her mother asked. “It’s not Wednesday.” She usually called her parents on Wednesday, telling them that she was just too busy to call them over the weekend when she was working weddings. Honestly, she was just happy not to get roped into Sunday family dinners because of her job, even if her parents liked to make her feel guilty about that.
“I’m calling to let you know that I have exciting news,” Rain said.
“Hold on,” her mother said. “Let me get your father so that you can tell us both.” She heard her mother rustling around on the other end of the call and sighed. She’d roll her eyes, but Rain knew that it would be a waste of good drama since no one would be able to see her do it.
“Okay, we’re both here,” her mother said. “Say hello to Rainbow, Frank,” her mother ordered.
“Hi, Bow,” her father said, calling her the nickname that he’d given her. He started calling her that when she protested having the name Rainbow. Her father was trying to find a compromise, but the name Bow just didn’t work for her. It was almost comical that neither of her parents would agree to call her Rain.
“Hi, Dad,” Rain said.
“So, what’s your exciting news?” her mother asked.
“I’ve been hired to photograph a wedding in France,” she said.
“France,” her father repeated. “That’s pretty far away, kiddo,” he insisted.
“I know, but how exciting is that?” Rain asked. “I mean, I’ve never left the country before and now, I get to go to France.”
“Do you have your passport?” her mother asked.
“Well, not yet,” Rain admitted. “But I’ve done a bit of research, and I can pay to expedite it to make sure that I have it in time. I have a little more than a month before I have to travel, so there’s still time.”
“Still, sounds like you’re cutting it a bit close,” her father insisted. This whole conversation wasn’t going the way that she had planned. She at least hoped that her parents would be happy for her, if not excited about her trip. But that was just too much to ask from either of them, apparently.
“I’m sure that it will be fine,” Rain countered. “Listen, I need to run. I have a client meeting that I can’t be late for.” That was a total lie, but she was finished with listening to her parent’s negativity. She was going to be happy for herself, even if they couldn’t seem to be.
She ended the call and sunk into her chair. “Well, that went great,” she grumbled. It was her fault, really. She should have savored her good news and kept it to herself instead of sharing it with her negative parents. Lesson learned—at least, that’s what she’d tell herself until the next time that she called her parents to share some good news.
Life seemed to slow down to a snail’s pace—just like it had every time Rain was waiting for something exciting to happen. But the big day finally rolled around and when she packed her suitcase and her gear to head to France, she felt as giddy as a kid on Christmas Eve. She had waited for this day for a little over a month now and stepping on the plane was the most exciting moment of her life. She just had no idea how big of a step it was going to be for her or how much her life was going to change—but boy was it going to.
