Three beautiful things from my past week all involve my volleyball friends:

1. Sergio and his wife are having a baby this month, and a bunch of us went in on a group gift. We had agreed to a plan, which included my taking care of the ordering. I knew the money would follow, but yesterday and today it started to pour in and kept doing so. Today, I got to go and buy some extra books to zero us out. When we presented him with the gift and he read everyone’s messages, he nearly broke down and I got a touching email from him when he got home to open some of the gifts with his wife.

2. Chris proposed to his girlfriend last week and she said yes.

3. My friends Neal and Amy agreed to take part in a literary scavenger hunt with me last weekend. We solved riddles, clues, and puns and visited a number of literary-themed sites (including the main library, where I finally got to ride the slide!) It helps to be able to ignore the signs stating there’s an age limit when you have a tweet from the head librarian giving you the green light. It ended up being such a blast, and while Amy is moving away, I think Neal would do it again with me next year.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. House- and dog-sitting for a friend means I spend a lot of time curled up with a snuggly pup.

2. Tonight’s sunset was the kind where every moment you think it’s gotten as beautiful as it possibly can and then it amps it up again.

3. A couple strangers at pickup volleyball offered compliments on my play (one guy made particularly head-turning comparisons) and a friend whose own skills I respect echoed some of them.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The sky reminds me of a poster Grey Kitten used to have on his wall growing up, all pinks and oranges.

2. Rudi comes home after ten days away.

3. We got gelato as a chaser to our second COVID boosters.

How about you? What’s beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Playing good (not just winning) volleyball.

2. Sergio has been taking pictures of our volleyball team this summer. Today he shared dozens of photos with us.

3. Cereal for when I don’t feel like cooking and ingredients for when I do.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The moon wasn’t full (Saturday is the Harvest Moon), but this evening’s moonrise was still spectacular.

2. As I was walking to the garden, I saw some folks had set up a net and were playing volleyball. “Would you like to play?” one of them asked. I assured them I would, but I had to go pick my tomatoes first before it got too dark. We played until the lights came on.

3. I decided we should award surprise superlatives to the volleyball team this time around, so a teammate and I wrote best-of’s for everyone, which I think went over really well. While we’d kept each other’s secret, I was cheerfully resigned to “team mom” for my organizing role. But instead, in a heartwarming, don’t-cry-on-the-field kind of moment, she dubbed me “Queen of the Misfits,” and I’ve never felt more seen or more touched.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?

Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. The camera (and flashlight) on my phone started working again!

2. We landed in Baltimore at dawn and the sky was beautifully streaked with pink.

3. My BFF, Karen, and I got a chance to catch up.

How about you? What’s been beautiful in your world lately?