I have written before about the weather and how it affects our lives.

I don’t want you to think this is a weather blog but yesterday was stormy all day until late afternoon when the sun burst through black clouds and wham! there was a fabulous, stunningly bright rainbow arching over the hills.

It was magnificent. Intense rich colours hung in a perfect arc and I immediately thought of Lauren.

Lauren loved rainbows. I met her in New Zealand where I was living at the time. Lauren was terminally ill. She had the most incredible spirit, a deep religious faith, a young family and a dear, supportive, traumatised husband, Brett.

Lauren wanted me to write about her  life, include a copy of the family tree, talk about her values, describe comic incidents, include poems and pictures she had painted, sayings from her ‘fridge door and produce her Legacy.

She also asked me to write letters to each of her children separately, and to her husband.

The letters were impossible for her to write, but by talking about what was important I was able to compose thoughtful, careful, letters full of love and praise and practical tips for Brett about how to run the family home, and for the children, full of wisdom, love and kindness.

When I handed over the Legacy, I gave Lauren a small crystal angel and hung it with invisible thread from the curtain pole above the picture window that looked over the garden.

Lauren clapped her hands together softly as the angel threw rainbows over the walls and set off prisms from the display cabinet of glass animals and crystal trinkets. Lauren closed her eyes and smiled and a rainbow danced briefly across her eyelids.

Now, I always think of Lauren when there’s a rainbow.