At the End of the Rainbow

The small place called Rainbow, will change you…forever.

Whether you’re traveling and stop to fill your car with gasoline or sit outside at the local restaurant, rent a cabin nestled in the trees or live here permanently surrounded by mountains, river, and clean air you won’t leave the same.

You see, I haven’t always liked living in Rainbow.

Matter-of-fact I swore once I graduated from high school, I would bolt from this place. This place is so small it’s not even a town.

I wanted to live in the city. I wanted tall buildings, crowded street corners, entertainment, and city lights at night. That’s what I wanted. To me, that was exciting. That was living.

I yearned to model, act, and live independently.

And Rainbow was holding me back from all my dreams coming true.

My time to escape

I graduated and now here is my chance to escape.

Photo of Author, by Philip Alan Photography

But life happened and relationships formed. I married my high school sweetheart. We became entrepreneurs, bought a house and had three children. Even though I loved the direction my life took, I secretly ached to move away and pursue acting.

Photo by Philip Alan Photography

In my late twenties the realization hit me that I was always going to live in Rainbow and none of my dreams would come true.

But, I had to do something with my dreams.

I couldn’t let them die.

I signed with a local talent agent located an hour from Rainbow. I scored small modeling jobs, fashion shows, and one local commercial.

I was on the cover of a special Fashion publication in the Register-Guard newspaper.

Also, featured in a full page ad for luxury body pillows in the Hawaiian Style magazine.

In the month of September, you could see me in the Women in Waders calender.

Or if you picked up the Hanks for Her clothing catalog out of New York you would see me on all 16-pages of the catalog.

Because of the talent agent, I learned there were beauty pageants for married women! Who knew? I competed for three years.

But that strong entrepreneur spirit that lived inside of me wanted to own a pageant, not compete in one. So, that’s what I did. I bought the Mrs. Oregon United States system.

Moving on to my late thirties I auditioned and landed a role on the Hit CBS Big Brother show. You can read about my journey HERE.

Rainbow, Oregon

But, that’s not what this story is about. It’s not about all the cool things I have been able to do in my fifty-three years of living. It’s more about how I wasn’t aware Rainbow was a special place.

Extraordinary.

A place that held super natural powers. A place where a person’s dreams do come true.

Photo by Rainbow

I didn’t come to this realization by myself. I had help from my mom. One day talking to my mom over the phone she said, “Kail, it’s because of where you live, that you have been able to live this exciting life that you have.”

A new truth just landed on my heart, and stuck.

That conversation was my light bulb moment.

Mom backed up her statement with words from the book of Acts in the Bible. “He [God] fixed beforehand the exact times and the limits of the places where they would live.”

“You see Kail, He knew what the desires of your heart were and He knew for your dreams to come true, you had to live in Rainbow.”

I wouldn’t have gotten those modeling jobs in my late 20s (too old to be a model) if I lived in California competing with the teenagers.

I wouldn’t have been able to participate in fashion shows at 5’4” if I lived in the big city where the standard population of women was 5’9″ and taller.

I wouldn’t have owned a pageant, but because I owned businesses in Rainbow I had the ability to purchase a system.

All of these experiences added up and gave me the confidence to audition to the hit CBS reality show Big Brother.

But…Rainbow is deeper than that.

Much deeper.

There’s something special about Rainbow. Something is in the air. When you drive here and cross over the boundary line, you enter the twilight zone.

In a good way.

It’s peaceful.

It’s calm.

You adopt a feeling and belief in Rainbow all your dreams do come true.

So, whether you’re passing through or staying for a long time, while you’re here, press in.

Press in to your dreams.

Go ahead and hope.

And if you’re a person of faith and holding on to a promise that God has told you, then come to Rainbow, because after all, this is where your promises come true.

And maybe, just maybe, while you’re here, you’ll see a Rainbow.

I’m best known for my appearance on the CBS Big Brother season 8 reality television show. At one time I owned and operated the Mrs. Oregon United States pageant. Since then, I have gone on to earn my BS in Psychology and own and operate a 5-bed residential mental health recovery center in Oregon.

You can read Part One HERE about my journey on CBS Big Brother, “My Tell ALL Secrets About Reality Shows They Don’t Want You to Know.”

Thank you! from the bottom of my ❤️ for reading my article.

Kail Harbick

©Kail Harbick 2022. All Rights Reserved

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This post was previously published on MEDIUM.COM.

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