{"id":9397,"date":"2016-04-29T00:05:30","date_gmt":"2016-04-29T05:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/?p=9397"},"modified":"2016-04-23T16:34:12","modified_gmt":"2016-04-23T21:34:12","slug":"finding-beauty-on-this-fantastic-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jolenephilo.com\/staging\/finding-beauty-on-this-fantastic-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding Beauty on this Fantastic Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>The red buds are blooming in our neighbor’s ravine again. They are as achingly beautiful as they were at the end of April last year. Twelve months ago I wrote this post, and though I feel better than when this post appeared in April of 2015, the words written in it are as true on this Fantastic Friday as they were then.<\/em><\/p>\n

Finding Beauty in a Not Very Easy Week<\/h4>\n

The week just past was not an easy one. Last Sunday, I was finally home for a good long while after months of speaking engagements and Grammy duties, with no book deadlines looming. Don’t get me wrong, all of the above are good\u2013even great and blessed\u2013events. But they were wearying, too, and I naively thought that the week would be devoted to creative activities that rejuvenate me…like finally getting back to poor, patient Jane and her languishing mystery novel<\/a>. That didn’t happen.<\/p>\n

Because I had forgotten that the first several days after being gone
\nare devoted to catching up on everything that piled up in your absence.
\nLaundry.
\nMail.
\nEmail.
\nBills.
\nGrocery shopping.
\nOnce those were taken care of,
\nit was\u00a0 time to respond to people I’d told,
\n“Contact me a few days after I get back, and I’d be glad to help.”
\nAll that took until Saturday.<\/p>\n

Which left me as frustrated as the crazy, two week allergy elimination diet I began on Sunday has been leaving me hungry after every meal. (More on the diet tomorrow.) And I was tired. Bone tired. A wee bit out of shape. And whiny because the weather’s been rainy and cold for days. Something had to be done. So Sunday afternoon, I sat down and racked my memory for the beauty hidden in my not-too-easy week.<\/p>\n

Once I started looking, beauty was everywhere,
\nin the cherry blossoms in our neighbors’ yard,
\nblossoms left untouched by a nip of frost.
\nin finding the exact watch Mom wanted to replace her old one at the first store visited.
\non the heavenly red bud trees<\/a> blooming in the ravine along our road.
\nin the forgiveness of our church Connection Group
\nwhen I totally forgot about the potluck we were hosting.<\/p>\n

Most beautiful of all,
\nmost heart-breakingly beautiful of all,
\nin the kindness of staff members interacting with a resident in Mom’s memory care unit,
\nas they encouraged him, though his mind is dimmed by disease, to play his trombone,
\nas they hummed the birthday tune to him until the notes brought back his memory,
\nand he played the tune straight through,
\nwith vibrato
\nand rhythm
\nand perfect pitch.
\nIn his fellow residents giving him a rousing round of applause,
\nand asking him to play it again…
\nand again…
\nand again.<\/p>\n

A miracle.
\nA miracle of grace.
\nA miracle of beauty.
\nA miracle of unequaled beauty almost overlooked,
\nthough hidden in plain sight,
\nand waiting eagerly to be found.<\/p>\n

And to think,
\nI almost missed it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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Twelve months ago I wrote this post, and though I feel better than when this post appeared in April of 2015, the words written in it are as true on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[115,2358,1520,989],"class_list":["post-9397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-life","tag-beauty","tag-busyness","tag-contentment","tag-red-buds"],"yoast_head":"\nFinding Beauty on this Fantastic Friday - Jolene Philo Staging<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finding Beauty on this Fantastic Friday - Jolene Philo Staging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The red buds are blooming in our neighbor’s ravine again. 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