Three beautiful things from my past week:

1. Rudi finally came home.

2. Our vacuum cleaner died, but I’d never gotten rid of the 30-year-old hand-me-down from my grandmother (who’d never gotten rid of it after, I’m guessing, my mother gave her a newer, lighter model as a gift) after Rudi and I moved in together. It’s been sitting in my parents’ basement for 13 years, but now it’s sitting in our basement, sucking up cat fur and kitty litter.

3. Sarah and I went to see the Indigo Girls last week. I noticed that Emily, whose voice is normally beautifully high and clear and one of my favorites, was not sounding dissimilar from Johnny Cash’s waver on his final album. “Oh, no!” I thought. “She blew out her voice.” But she and Amy shared they’ve been sick and that Emily was currently on steroids. “I’m so sorry about my voice,” she bemoaned. I wanted to shout down to her that I was delighted she was sick, because that was so much better than the alternative, but that just seemed extremely rude and insensitive (and a way to guarantee that Sarah would never ask me to go with her to a show again).

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