Due to yesterday’s blog blackout, I missed an important anniversary: my five year anniversary of chronicling Three Beautiful Things.

I didn’t realize five years ago, when I stumbled across Clare’s blog noting three instances of beauty in her daily life that this would become my most regular, and one of my most looked forward to, features. And yet, if you scroll through my archives, you’ll find a stunning 29 pages worth of beautiful things I thought worth noting over the years. And while it’s a random assortment of things I’ve recorded, there are some constants — wonderful friends and family, good food, a comfortable home, nature, adorable or amusing children and animals, meaningful music… And, really, aren’t those the things that make life worth living?

I have to admit that as I page through my TBT archives, I’m wearing a bit of a goofy smile on my face. What was beautiful five years ago or three, or even last month, is still beautiful and I’m so grateful to Clare that she inspired me to set these things down in writing. Because while I would have remembered some of them — John’s wedding, New Jersey Christmas lights — there so many other fleeting moments that would have passed right out of my memory but that are instead captured forever.

So, in honor of a significant milestone, I offer you a rare Tuesday Three Beautiful Things to mark what’s been noteworthy in the last few days:

1. We drive back from Columbia Sunday night through a massive thunderstorm filled with sheets of rain and lightning so bright that it illuminates the sky like midday. As we cross the state line into the District, 16th Street is miraculously dry.

2. After a day that started with waking up pre-dawn to nightmares and went downhill from there, Rudi rubs my clenched jaw until it relaxes, rubs my back until we both doze off, and then gets up to wash the dinner dishes so that I don’t have to.

3. Rudi and I lie down on the rug to play a board game. Posey, who considers the floor to be her domain, comes over to watch — and to help us play. She adds new dimensions to the game by trying to steal playing pieces and by suggesting our dice were meant to roll different numbers. When a big, fluffy paw reached out to swipe a second cow (we’d already given her a spare), we both burst into laughter. [N.B. Posey is not the first cat in our household to enjoy gaming; Della’s enjoyment of Scrabble was the reason we ultimately gave up on keeping score.]

Have you witnessed anything beautiful lately?