Do you enjoy looking out your window with curiosity at the gathering storm? Dark clouds rolling at you like a wagon train. Anticipation builds. From experience you know full well that the earth, and your dwelling are going to get pounded by little drops of water that sound like millions of bullets falling on your roof.
The occasional burst of thunder might shock you. Or, it might be a distant call to something else.
At the end, if you are lucky, your rainstorm will turn into yellows, blues, reds, and greens. A rainbow. If you grew up around enough Irishmen, you know that there is a pot of gold somewhere at the bottom of it.
Yesterday, I devoured a book. It is titled, The Color of Rain. It’s the tragic and in the end, uplifting, story of Mike and Gina Spehn. Like a tragic thriller, it’s really three separate intertwined stories in one. You should pick it up and read it. I guarantee that it will make you think. It might even change your life and help you find your own personal rainbow.
I am fortunate to be able to appear on their radio show every Saturday morning. Mike and Gina allow me seven minutes to talk about finance and topics of the day. Mike and I grew up together. We met when we were 10 years old.
After high school, Mike and I didn’t see each other as much. It’s not rare to see your high school friends disburse. It’s actually pretty odd to see them hang together. Over the next twenty years, I would see Mike every now and then. We would check in with each other. He got married, had kids, lived in California next to another mutual friend of ours who Mike was closest with.
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One night in 2003, I got a phone call. The voice said, “Mike Spehn’s wife died.”
“Ugh.” I said, “Car accident.”
“No.” Pause. “Cancer.”
“Really? Wow.”
When I attended the wake, I didn’t realize that there were a number of compelling mini dramas playing out all at the same time. Tragic, funny, death, birth. All the stuff that makes us human and is a part of life is in this book. Mike and his father. Gina, her grief and her past. Mike and Gina. Mike and his grief. A community of faith, and the loss of two members. The Brady Bunch, minus the housekeeper as Gina says! This book is not just about them, it’s about each of us and how we relate to the world and each other. Like the roots of an Aspen tree, we are connected to our past and our future.
The book does a great job of telling heart wrenching individual stories. But the book isn’t simply a couple of intertwined stories that play like a Hollywood drama. There is much more in it for you. At the end of the day, the pages will speak to you. The ink will intermingle itself into your consciousness.
You won’t have to dig deep within yourself to find the message the book wants you to know. The story of Gina and Mike’s struggles and eventual rebirth will read similarly to everyone. However, their story is so powerful you will change how you think about life and how you go about your daily living.
Buy the book here. Mike and Gina will be doing many television appearances in the coming months. Someday, I might be lucky enough to meet Mike’s new wife Gina in person. If you get the chance to go meet her at a book signing, do it. She is truly special. So is Mike.
John Ransom | Create Your Badge
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