“There isn’t time — so brief is life — for bickering, apologies, heartburning, callings to account, there is only time for loving — and but an instant, so to speak, for that.”

— Mark Twain in a letter to Clara Spaulding, a lifelong friend of the Clemens family

This past Sunday, June 21, marked the Summer Solstice and the longest day of the year. I was on the road by 4:45 a.m., eager to watch the sunrise with my farmland friend, Rick. I hadn’t seen him for at least a month and missed his easy-going company.

When we began our sunrise walk around 5:20, the skies were dark and menacing.

“Oh, how disappointing,” I said to Rick.

“But we have each other’s company,” Rick replied. “You always have corny jokes — which I haven’t missed — but your company always lightens things up.”

Sure enough, about 15 minutes later . . .

Then seven minutes later . . .

“This is glorious!” I yelled to Rick, who had gone ahead without me. “You’re missing something incredible.” I stood and stared, capturing image after image on my iPhone. I could no longer see Rick, but then heard: “Hey, Sharon, TURN AROUND!”

What?! Turn around? What would I see that could possibly top what I saw right in front or me?

“TURN AROUND, SHARON!” yelled Rick again. “TURN AROUND!!!”

I turned. And. Lost. My. Spit.

In front of me was a rare sunrise double rainbow. I stood in silence while Rick walked back to me.

“Pretty amazing, isn’t it?” said Rick.

“I’ve never seen anything like this at sunrise,” I replied. “What a gift! Thank you.” We stood arm in arm in silence as the rainbow slowly disappeared. Before leaving to walk back, I turned around one last time to see the view in front of me.

In just one half hour, the world around us had changed from dark and threatening to light and glorious. I had a vague recollection of something Mark Twain had said to a friend about the briefness of time and told myself to look it up when I got home. That Twain quote is at the top of this post.

Rick and I were giddy walking back and I got a photo of us celebrating our sunrise triumph. An unforgettable sunrise with an unforgettable friend. As Twain said, “there is only time for loving — and but an instant, so to speak, for that.”