Photographed by Beckie Lee
“I Love You More Than Rainbows” when I heard (singer/songwriter) Ryan Bingham say this phrase to his wife at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards my first reaction was that it evokes images of someone who is rare and precious. It is more than a phrase it is a book by Susan E. Crites. My daughter has a similar book by Sam McBratney called “Guess How Much I Love You.” It’s about a hare and his son. He is telling his son he loves him and always will love him. It is so amazing to think that these animated characters and simple poems can express so much love. Poems can express so clearly our emotions, from sadness to anger, from joy to boredom, we who write know how easy it is to put our minds and souls in text. Yet we also know that no words can ever convey how we truly feel. Maybe we can compare a poem to a snapshot from a black and white camera, and a book based on a poem is like a snapshot taken with high-definition Technicolor clarity. I do love my family more than rainbows and I’m glad that books – however brief can capture that reality so eloquently. This is an excerpt from Susan E. Crites’ book:
I love you more than rainbows and beautiful skies.
I love you more than buttercups and wings of butterflies.
I love you more than ice cream with sprinkles on the top,
Or jumping in the pool with a great big belly flop!
