(New Release)After Rain: This one is for you.
- Landon Van Wagoner
- Nov 11, 2017
- 2 min read
"I like to look for rainbows whenever there is rain, and ponder on the beauty of an earth made clean again..." These words overwhelmed me as I sat on the bench of the piano on the 3rd floor of Primary Children's Hospital.
My sister was in recovery from her heart surgery, and I needed to get up and move around. I passed by the windows that overlooked the still scene of lights twinkling through the crisp wintry air and in the next room, I saw a piano. There was nobody else around, so I decided to take out a bit of my anxiousness and all the emotions of the preceding days on the keys. It couldn't have been very long when I looked over the lid of the piano to see an IV cart wheeling past, though I couldn't see who was pushing it. In an effort to see who it was, I peaked over and saw a young girl, perhaps 4 or 5 years old. She looked sick, but smiled at me anyway and sat just a few feet away, watching me. Not long after she walked in, her nurse came and sat beside her. A bit nervous to now have an audience, I turned to the girl and asked what her favorite song was. She responded so quietly that I had to turn to the nurse to see what she said. A bit embarrassed, the nurse said "Um, well... It's an LDS song..." I assured her that wasn't a problem. She replied "I like to look for rainbows."
To this point, I had never tried to play any version, beyond that of the Children's Song Book, of this song. I offered a silent prayer, and this recording is what followed. I have kept the arrangement true to what I played that night. Just after I finished, with my eyes now wet, the little girl popped off her seat, shuffled by with her cart, smiled, said thank you, and she was gone. I never got her name, and I never knew what was keeping her in the hospital at Christmas time, but I know that this song was for her, and all of the others who just need to know that everything will be ok, That our lives can be as clean as earth right after rain. I hope you enjoy the gentle simple feel, accompanied by quiet cellos, I certainly enjoyed creating it. It is available for download/streaming on Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, ITunes, and on this website.
