Living Dangerously - Issue 36

"A rainbow, according to the science of optics, is an illusion, whereas Dante says that it's the promise of God," Allums says. "Is it an illusion? He who sees a rainbow from one spot can, if he moves 20 feet to the right, no longer see it. It's a matter of light refraction. The things that really bring us peace or meaning aren't contained in visible things."

Suddenly, it's 7 PM and I have to get back to New York. At the gate next to mine, there is a connecting flight to Rome, but that gate closes in five minutes. I have not yet burned my panty hose, so I board my scheduled flight to La Guardia. Along my path, I have a few stops to make before Italy, but not many -- not anymore.

Harriet Rubin (hrubin@aol.com) is the author of "The Princessa: Machiavelli for Women" (Doubleday, 1997) and "Soloing: Realizing Your Life's Ambitions" (HarperCollins, 1999). She is also the director of Working Diva, a Web site on iVillage (www.ivillage.com/workingdiva).