31 Beautiful Things, Day 18: Anticipation

Every now and then I come to the end of a day and think, "What was beautiful about today?" And that is what this is really all about: finding beauty even in the humdrum days. I can look outside and see beauty every single second. I can see the Smoky Mountains from my window, for goodness sake. I can look at my daughter and inwardly gasp at how gorgeous she is, how breathtaking. I can feel my sweet boy's head on my shoulder and know what beauty feels like.

Today, I pretty much cleaned all day. Is there anything beautiful about cleaning? I can't even pretend to find beauty in scrubbing the shower or picking fuzz off a dark blue comforter that was washed with a fluffy light green towel.

What's beautiful for me about today is the anticipation: the why of cleaning. Friday is party day! We have a big annual fall party, and in the morning I'll just have a few hours of preparation left to do. I love having a house full of friends. I wish I could invite every single friend I have and even every single acquaintance, but we can only hold so many people in our house and yard.

We started this almost 10 years ago, telling each child they could invite 2 close friend and their families. Well, friends shift throughout the years, but we also made a rule that no one ever gets taken off the list—only new people added. We've lost a lot of people through the years, mostly as they move away physically but sometimes as they've moved away from us and into other friendships, other villages. But we've added a family or two each year, and this year we're especially excited because one of the original families—who have long since moved away— will be visiting and staying with us for the weekend!

And so, while I really can't find anything beautiful in cleaning, I can totally find a beautiful thing in the reason for all the scrubbing and dusting.

Find October's 31 Beautiful Things so far here!