Sweetpea’s Garden

It has been quite a while since I posted my supposed-to-be-weekly three beautiful things. One of the downsides of taking February off to focus on work is that I instantly became less observant, and somehow paying attention to the small moments of beauty around me has been the slowest blogging-related habit to come back to me.

I did manage to note a few things this past week, though, so here they are:

1. Last Sunday, I took my older nephew (who is four) to his first hockey game. He was about beside himself with excitement, and his infectious enthusiasm made for a fun afternoon. My favorite moment came near the end of the game, when he happened to miss a small fistfight, but looked up at the jumbo-tron in time to see the scrum of angry men posturing. He looked up at me and said, “Are they hugging?” I find the fact that he is so innocent that violence didn’t even cross his mind, to be incredibly beautiful.

2. I met up with sprite for dinner on Tuesday, at Teaism in Dupont Circle, a I restaurant I have never actually been to, despite its proximity to my office. (I’ve been to the one downtown, but only once and so long ago it barely counts.) While paying for my dinner, I made an impulse purchase of something called “Chocolate Salty Oat Cookies,” which turned out be be about the best treat ever. And any evening that combines friendship, a tasty dinner, good conversation, and the discovery of a delicious cookie is a treat, indeed.

3. My post about the one-year anniversary of my dad’s death was selected by DC Blogs (a site that aggregates all the blogs about life here in our nation’s capital) as one of their featured posts in their daily round-up last Thursday. Several complete strangers took a moment of their time to post kind, thoughtful, and compassionate comments, which I found incredibly touching. The anonymity of the blogosphere is often believed to bring out the worst in people; I am touched to be on the receiving end of it bringing out the best.