Today's beauties

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I know, believe me, I know.  I groan at cliches just as much as the next person.  Cliches are just another nail in the coffin of good writing, beating a dead horse, as welcome as a skunk at a lawn party.  By the same token, however, sometimes, they're useful for getting the ball rolling. [Insert fake laughter... moving right along].  


Sometimes, in the rare sometimes, I can see beyond the gussied up, overdone exterior to the nugget of truth in a cliche, tucked away without flash or glitter.  Starting this year off with the "daring proposal" of finding one beautiful thing in each day begs the question, "What is beauty?"  And I have to agree, to a measured extent, that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder.  There are the unmistakably beautiful things in life, and then, there are a myriad of things that could be beautiful if we deem them so. 


So here we go.  Day one of the beauty dare, and I dare to be an overachiever today.   


Beauty is...


The ring, slipping lop-sided on my finger, sparkling crystal green and delicate.  Too big for my finger and not my "official" engagement ring, this one is beautiful in its symbol of eagerness.  Ricardo couldn't wait any longer for the ring he picked out to arrive, so he went out and bought this one - a placeholder - to slip on my finger the night he proposed.  It doesn't draw attention to itself, but to me, it speaks volumes of beauty.  


Beauty is...


My brother in law - alive! - after a frightening night of pneumonia that nearly incapacitated his lungs. I heard the fear in my sister's voice last night when she called, waking me from a deep sleep, while she waited for the ambulance to arrive, to help him breath again.  I felt the hand of fear seize my stomach and twist, hard, the hot tears falling, the memories hounding of that phone call, oh, that awful phone call three years ago, and Papa, gone.  I doubled over, praying, knowing, that God holds us near, but life and death are still mysteries that slip through our grasp and break our hearts.  And we never know, how long we have each other to love and enjoy.  But my brother in law has breath in his lungs and will come home today and be with his wife and his two children, and I praise God for this beauty.  


A ring - promises of a life together, of love united.  And a life - remaining with the ones who love him. Nothing more beautiful than these comes to mind today.