3BT #20

Three beautiful things, as I claw my way out of this funk I've been in lately. Things are kind of rough in my little world right now. Still dealing with the aftermath, I'm afraid. It's hard work and frankly I'm tired. All the more reason to focus on the pieces of good:

1. The sun. Oh sweet heaven above, the sunshine. Look, I live where it rains. It is grey and cloudy for a good chunk of the year. The dreariness doesn't bother me much, at least not when it stays in the seasons it's supposed to. But lately things have gotten ridiculous. We had 25 days of rain in April. Then another three weeks straight of rain to usher in June. Every day for weeks I woke up to another cold, yucky sky outside my window. But yesterday! Yesterday there was sunshine: bright, warm, summery sunshine! I'm not even kidding, people were nicer. Strangers were smiling and talking to each other again. I am certain a dozen people impetuously proposed marriage.
   
   
2. The french fries at Red Robin. Enough said.
   
   
3. The feeling of a child in your arms who has completely given themselves over to hugging you, eyes squeezed shut, arms around you, their hair nestled against your neck, the weight of their head on the curve of your shoulder.

Beautiful Things #19

Three beautiful things, gratitude edition:

1. You! You all are beautiful for what you made of the Interview Project. In the beginning, I told myself that if we managed ten pairs-- just twenty bloggers--I'd consider it a success. I even had a mental list of people I'd beg to participate if I had to. Instead we had over thirty pairs! To everyone who participated in an interview, shared the project on their blog, posted a link in a forum, or visited the participants' sites--thank you, thank you, thank you. You blew me away with your enthusiasm and insightfulness. I hope you all made some lovely new connections.
   
   I've got some ideas for the future, and I'd love to hear yours, too. If you have any feedback on the project, definitely let me know.
   
   
2. More sincere thanks to every single person who reached out after the hey-my-life-just-imploded post. Each comment and email was like a little hug. My life is still wackadoodle, and it will be for the near future, at least. I haven't yet found the new normal; I'm sorry I haven't been around as much. But the family is physically healthy, God is near and the cherry trees are blossoming. No small things, those.
   
   
3. Did I mention the cherry blossoms? We had a string of beautiful spring days earlier this week and I took some long walks around our neighborhood.  Passing close by some of the snowy white and pink trees, I felt like all the things that have been weighing on me this month were a bit lighter. There is something about their fleeting loveliness each year--they come and go in a week or two--that makes me feel like there is always the possibility of renewal if only you wait and watch.

3BT #18

Three beautiful things on a winter day:

1. The steady drumbeat of a hard rain on a shingled roof, turning the indoors into a warm, sheltering cocoon.
   
2. Pesto. Enough said.
   
3. Bare toddler bottoms trotting down a hallway post-bath, accompanied by squeals and giggles. Ah, for the freedom to run around naked without a care in the world again.

I Can't Believe I'm About To Tell You This

The first day of our jaunt was really quite nice.

The second day--oh, friends, the second day. The second day I got a brush stuck in my hair.

For seven hours.

There was a brush. In my hair. FOR SEVEN HOURS.

Please, for the love of all that is holy, tell me that one of you has done something more ridiculously stupid than that. Please.

We eventually got the brush out, although I ended up losing a chunk of my hair. Would that I could go back to the beginning, lose the hair, and get the seven hours back. Ah, well.

If ever there were a day for a three beautiful things post, it is this.

1. Tonight we baked a peach pie that I had frozen this summer, made of peaches we picked as a family one afternoon. It was so perfectly peachy I almost cried. Every bite was like a burst of warm sunshine.
   
   
2. My husband still loves me, even though I ruined the second day of our vacation. I made him a three-pound monstrosity of a meatloaf tonight as part of my attempt to make amends. With two different meats! Meatloaf is his love language.
   
   
3. The smiles and hugs from the kids when we returned home were utterly delicious.

Three Beautiful Things #16

Three beautiful things on a November evening...

1. Children giggling as they lie down to sleep
2. A tart sweet warm caramel-ly bite of apple crisp
3. Kind words in my inbox 

What is beautiful in your world today?

Three Beautiful Things #15

Three beautiful things, I'm-riled-up-and-need-to-find-the-calm-still-center edition...

1. The tiny, deliberate voice of a one-year old carefully practicing her newest word
   
   
2. Piling with a book under a warm duvet cloud while rain falls in the dark outside
   
   
3. Finding yourself in the middle of not one, but two lovely books

And you?

3BT #14

Three beautiful things, summer day edition...

1. Finding a cluster of perfectly ripe berries tucked behind a leaf, warm from the sun, begging to be picked
   
   
2. The wet squishy sweet tart burst of a blackberry on your tongue
   
   
3. Simply walking hand in hand

Your turn.

3BT #13

Three beautiful things:

1. The soft warm sunshine on your arms on the first short-sleeve-weather day of the year.
   
   
2. A single perfect corkscrew curl.
   
   
3. The way his small face beams when you tell him the story of the day you first met him.

What is beautiful in your world today?

3BT #12

Three beautiful things, back-from-vacation-and-trying-(unsuccessfully)-to-
not-freak-out-about-the-fact-that-I-can't-get-my-work-computer-to-turn-on edition:

1. That first, perfect bite of pizza. It is somehow the only moment when the ratio of crust to sauce to cheese to topping is just right.
   
   
2. A baby leaning in, full-body, for a hug, stretching their arms out as if certain they can wrap them around you if they only open wide enough.
   
   
3. The first early blossoms on the cherry trees, white and pink against a still-grey sky. They surprise me every spring.
   
   
   

3BT #11

Three beautiful things...

1. The sharp twinkle of Christmas lights across a roofline (even if they are up a week too early)
   
   
2. Smooth bright crimson cranberries piled in a white bowl
   
   
3. A spouse who cleans up the mess when your grocery bag full of glass jars breaks open onto the garage floor
   

3BT #10

Three beautiful things, rainy weekend inside with the kids edition:

• Listening to a toddler explore and experiment with language.  Puppy has a slew of made-up words that he gleefully uses at every opportunity: stromp, stromboom, boomstromp, stromdrum, roh-hah. And lately when he doesn't have an answer to a question, he tells you, "I can't know, Mama. I can't know."
  
  
• Baby girls in dressy coats and rib knit tights
  
  
• That final peaceful, focused look babies give you before drifting to sleep in your arms
  

What is beautiful in your world today?

3BT #9

Three beautiful things, long August weekend edition:

1. Tucking into a good book in a freshly made bed
   
   
2. The trusting weight of a child's body resting against yours, head in the crook of your neck
   
   
3. The rush of cold-tinged wind on a late summer day that whispers autumn is coming

What is beautiful in your life today?

3BT #8

Three beautiful things...

1. Dark purple iris blooms against a storm grey sky
   
   
2. The wisp of a sleeping child's breath as you lean in to kiss his cheek
   
   
3. The fuzzy sweet, sunshiny wet tart taste of the first nectarine of the year
   

3BT #7

Three beautiful things, I-want-to-win-a-fabulous-prize-from-mama2roo edition...

1. The clean, stark line where a freshly painted wall meets the bright ceiling
   
   
2. The satisfaction of getting the damn room painted before the end of the year just like you swore you would way back in January
   
   
3. Looking back with a happy heart at a year in which our roots sank deeper in a new city
   

I started writing here in earnest 2007 and I am so glad I did. It has been a good year. I hope at the end of 2008 we can all say the same. Happy New Year, friends!

3BT #6

Three beautiful things...

1. The soft stillness inside a home when everyone else sleeps and
   
   
2. ...you sit wrapped in a quilt alone with your drifting thoughts...
   
   
3. ...while outside the wind swirls hungrily, fighting for a way in.
   

3BT #5

Three beautiful things on a cold autumn evening:

1. Pulling a quilt up over a sleeping child, curved like an apostrophe in the corner of his bed
   
2. The faint hint of a neighbor's wood stove in the air when you step outside
3. A breeze pushing through the last dry leaves on a tree, a sound almost like that of soft rainfall

What beautiful things are around you today?

3BT #4

I need a little pick-me-up tonight.

Three beautiful things, summer edition:

1. Berries, freshly picked and warm in your hand
2. Laughter and sunshine mingling over the pool
3. A child practicing just-learned words

Add yours in the comments...

3BT #3

Three beautiful things...

1. Curling under the covers as the morning light streams in, listening to a baby babbling to himself over the monitor
2. Sharing a popsicle with your kiddo on the deck
3. Realizing that despite all your worrying and overthinking, your life is pretty damn good just as it is

3BT #2

Three beautiful things from this weekend...

1. Cherry trees in bloom
2. Finding out on St. Patrick's Day that your child is 1/4 Irish
3. A young boy running as fast as his toddler legs will carry him toward three laughing adults sprawled on the sunny lawn. In that moment there is no awkwardness, no tension, no confusion. Just three parents full of love for their son.

I want to write more about the visit later. But it was good. It was really, really good.

3BT #1

There is an English woman who, believing that "happiness is found mostly in small things," began recording three beautiful things she saw or experienced each day. The resulting blog, which she has kept since May 19, 2004, is a testament to the power of simplicity.

When adoption or fertility are especially on my mind, I can sometimes get bogged down in the in the sorrow and loss which are attached to them. I think it's right to grieve for yourself or others, or to grow angry at injustice. But, for me, there is a danger of losing sight of joy. I owe it to myself and to the people in my life not to let that happen.

I am not ambitious enough to record three beautiful things every day. But I would like to note them here from time to time, for my own sake, to balance out some of the heavier things on my mind. May they be a reminder to me of the ever-present joy.

Three beautiful things for today:

1. The daffodils which have lately emerged from from their underground rest
2. Homemade vanilla ice cream
3. Lazy afternoon frolicking with your husband while your child is with his grandparents