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Recently I started my very first non-paranormal romance. It's a BDSM romance, actually, but there is not a STITCH of a paranormal element anywhere in it. So, let's see, all told I've written...*counting*...fifteen novels and a handful of novellas. This is the first one that is set completely in reality.

Since there is no fantastical element, I've found myself casting about for the mirculous in everyday life. I do this in my real life, so I must be able to do to in my non-paranormal fiction, right? I've found I can. :) Pretty cool.

So, tell me about something beautiful or amazing from your everyday life. It could be something from your past, something from this morning, whatever. Just give me beauty from the ordinary.

Post your item of ordinary fantasticalness (yes, I made that word up) and I'll enter you in a contest to win a bottle of Bastet from The Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab, an autograghed paperback and a box of delicious chocolates.

Here's an example from my life to start you off. This happened a while back.

Every morning on the way to my day job I pass this bus stop with a bench. Every morning there's two people there waiting for the bus--a man and a woman. At first one is standing and the other is sitting. The next day they're both sitting. A couple days later they're sitting a little closer. A few days after that they're sitting together very close and talking intimately.

They're never there anymore. I imagine they've moved into together and bought a car. :)


Give me beauty, people. It can be anything at all. :) Anything you find magical, amazing, fantastical or miraculous about living in mundane reality every day.

This contest ends on Thursday, March 9th.

posted by Anya Bast, 5:46 AM
Comments:
Oh, excellent, Terez. :)
commented by Blogger Anya Bast, 7:51 AM  
Nothing is more beautiful than my 2 year old son looking at me and saying "Mommy, you're my best friend" God only knows how long it'll last, but wow, it brought tears to my eyes when he said it.
commented by Blogger polheber2, 8:20 AM  
During the summer last year i was out to the camp near the river and every morning i would watch this old Lady arcoss the river throw a Daisy into the river from the shore bank and watch it flot away as the sun peak over the trees ...I wonder why she did it ...but i never went over and asked
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 8:29 AM  
I wake up every morning to a vibrant toddler climbing over me to "attack" daddy. Nothing is more beautiful than Hearing your two year old profess her love, "I lubs ooo dada".

There's an innocence in their eyes and it makes it all the more beautiful.
commented by Blogger Kris, 8:30 AM  
This morning I was sorting through hundreds of buttons of all colors and descriptions. These are buttons that my Mom(who has passed away from breast cancer)collected and saved over the years. She saved everything; as I was going through them and handling them it brought me closer to Mom-these very buttons were handled and touched by her. She took the time to cut each and every button off of the garment they were adorning. This reminded me again what a wonderful person she was.
RobynL
commented by Blogger robynl, 8:50 AM  
Wow. You guys are fantastic at this. :)
commented by Blogger Anya Bast, 9:14 AM  
I am disabled. It is difficult for me to grocery shop, etc. I have a helper who comes twice a week and does the cleaning and laundry that I cannot manage. Vicky is Mexican and she is very interested in improving her English. She will be starting ESL classes shortly. We have made a bargain, Vicky and I. I will correct her English and she will correct my Spanish. In my younger days (I am 55) I learned languages easily. Now, due to my disabilities, my memory is abysmal.

Today Vicky came to help me grocery shop. The store was crowded and they gave me difficulties with my check. However, I have decided that each week or so, I will help Vicky with English pronunciation. We started with v and b since they are particularily difficult for her.By the time we got home, Vicky was saying, "Vicky is very busy"; and I was saying, "Mi quiero mucho mis hijos", we were laughing and extremely proud of ourselves!
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 11:10 AM  
Every once in awhile during an evening of light snow, my husband and I will get in the car and drive around. Just watching the snow fall, listening to music and being with the one I love is magical.

But there's also that feeling at night, lying in bed together, wondering how on earth I became so lucky to have found someone who complements me so much.
commented by Blogger Nicole, 11:17 AM  
I am going to have to agree with the mommy comments. Nothing fills the heart quicker than a moment of joy from a child. The laughter of my toddler gets me. I remember visiting Disney World alone as an adult when I had a Disney moment. A small child came up beside me, gasped and said in an awe-filled voice "Mickey Mouse"!
commented by Blogger ThatBrunette, 12:44 PM  
It never fails to amaze me how my husband of 25 (soon to be 26) years picks me up when I fall down or am tired and vice versa. When I feel down because of what's happening at the moment, he always makes me smile and laugh and when he is tired or down I always seem to be able to make him smile or laugh. It's something I was just day dreaming about for a few seconds and you realize "thank goodness you stuck it through the easy times and the not so easy". It becomes a comfort and demonstrates how compassionate you are for each other.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 4:14 PM  
The most beautiful moment that I can ever remember was the christmas my dad got down in the floor and played train with my baby boy. I took a picture and this will always be my favorite of the two of them. Sadly he passed away after a year long illness several years after that. But my son who was 2 or 3 at the time still remembers.
commented by Blogger Pamk, 4:42 PM  
When my little brother took his first walking step and had this expression of wonder and delight in his eyes, that was a truly magical moment for me.
commented by Blogger jennyowl, 5:22 PM  
We had some truly dreary weather last summer when everything was shrouded in grey for a couple of weeks. But each evening the sun would descend into the horizon as a brilliant glowing red jewel...like an apology for the lacklustre day.

Little Lamb Lost
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 7:15 PM  
My 4 year old always waits for me to say I love you before her kiss goodbye in the morning at daycare.
But lately she preempts me and right before I say the words she pipes in with "I love you toooo Mommy".
commented by Blogger Ashley, 6:18 AM  
I'm an only child but I grew up with my older cousins. Their children are like my nieces and nephews. One in particular, Krystl, spent a lot of time with me when she was little. One memory I cherish of our time together was when I was home sick. Krystle comes to my room wanting to watch the video Sister Act. I'm disabled and at the time I had to use a ventilator to help my breathing. While we watched the movie I'd cough and Krystle would come to me, remove the mouthpiece of the ventilator, help me lean forward so I could spit and pat my back to help bring up the secretions. Then she'd replace the mouthpiece and help me sit back. As I said we'd spent a lot of time together so she knew by watching how to help me.
It amazes me that at such a tender age, she was about three/four yrs old, she knew I needed help and provided it. To this day whenever I watch Sister Act, I get emotional because it reminds me of that precious day with Krystle.
The heart of a child truly is a wondrous thing.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 12:01 PM  
My perspective on life has changed lately. I guess turning 50 will do that to you. I have always known that the most important things in my life are family and friends, so I'm thankful for every one of them even though I take them for granted most of the time. My family may annoy me to no end, but I wouldn't want to lose any of them. I believe that, without each of them and their own “unique” personalities, I would not be the person I am today. I would not have had the experiences of my childhood and motherhood that have enriched my life. And all of these experiences, whether good or bad at the time, have made memories that I will always treasure.

“I am not complaining about having too little. I have learned to be satisfied with whatever I have.” Philippians 4:11 (CEV)
commented by Blogger nrbtsfan, 6:51 AM  
A friend of my daughter's had no date to the prom. She is a beautiful girl so there was not a lot of sympathy for her situation. My daughter asks her date, who was from another school, if he had a friend to go with the girl and one of his friends agreed to do so. He rented a tux and bought a crosage without ever having met this girl. I thought this was such a nice thing to do.
commented by Blogger Maureen, 10:45 AM  
Each nite, I'd go visit my mom in her bedroom and she would have me sit next to her and she would have me put my hand on her voice box so I could feel her words, so I could understand some of what she said. She would pick up some romance books (mostly series and some Johanna Lindsay) and would tell me parts about the stories and ask me to put them on her shelf and for me to take one to read. I'd pick a book and then stay up the night til I finished it because I couldn't wait to come back the next night and talk to my mom about the book I read of hers!
After thanksgiving in 2000 when my mom was very ill, I went up driving three hours on Friday and would stay the weekend with her and take care of her. One thing I did, was I never failed to read from one of her books to her each night. When my mom passed away, I left one of her favorite author books with her of series and too a pin in sign language that said 'I love you'. So I didn't tell this story to tell of saddness, I told of beautiful memories, to find joy in each day. I still find the joy in the books I read, being with my family and being with my hero for 22 years and counting.
Hugs,
Cathie
TBRAnxiety
commented by Blogger Caffey, 11:14 AM  
What I find miraculous is that I have a wonderful best friend who I've never met in person. Thanks to the magic of the internet we met online seven years ago and only a handful of days has gone by since then when we haven't chatted.

We know more about each other than anyone else in the world except our spouses. We're always there for each other. We help each other through the tough times like illness and unemployment and share each other's joy when there is good news like the birth of a baby.

She also has a sixth sense about what is going on in my life. She knew that something was wrong when my husband was rushed to the emergency room and sent an IM to ask what happened. She also predicted that I was going to win a car right before I won a Pontiac G6.

My life is much richer because she is in it and I'm thankful every day that we're friends.
commented by Blogger Cynthya, 7:48 PM  
Miracles in everyday life can be found anywhere a child is. Case in point, I have two such miracles and they are most definitely miracles. These are old miracles but well worth their weight in their miracles. My firstborn is a miracle unto himself because he was born on March 5, 1994, prematurely at 25 weeks gestation. My OB said to me before delivery, "be prepared, this child is entirely too early that the best statistics that I can offer you are that he has maybe 1% chance of surviving past the first 24 hours." Not only did Thomas survive past the first 24 hours he breathed on his own for the first 48 hours. They eventually put him on a ventilator because at so young it was taxing his underdeveloped lungs to breathe on his own. I watched this child struggle for 4 months to survive. Many a time I paced the floor around his incubator because they'd call me to come spend "last hours with him" because he was dying of kidney failure or pneumonia or something that they said he wouldn't make it to morning. The sun would rise and I would be holding my breath praying that I didn't have to hear that telltale beep of the monitors. My heart would about give out as my tiny baby opened his eyes and smiled at me and raised his tiny arms toward me as if to say "mommy I need a hug." And to this day it still makes me cry when I tell his story. It almost embarasses him whenever I have to brag to a stranger "this is my miracle baby" who is now 12 years old, almost taller than me and healthy and normal. And then I have to tell them here is the other miracle, my youngest who was born July 3, 2001. When we were told that I couldn't have any more babies, I was devastated. All my friends around me seemed to be having babies all of a sudden or announcing news they were expecting and it was killing me inside to hear the news or see them pregnant. It was a harsh battle for me to accept that there wasn't going to be any more baby booties and alphabet blocks scattered on my floors. Sure eventually we'd decided when we were ready we'd look into adoption. But somehow one day, the little pink line said you're pregnant and I had to go see an OB to be sure I wasn't nuts. Then along came Jonathan David (so named because his name means "blessed gift from God") and he was a month early. When I awoke after the surgery (I had a c-section just like the first time) the surgeon says to me "Carol, I don't know how you got pregnant." She said my fallopian tubes and everything in there was such a cursed mess she doesn't even know how in the world we got pregnant. She said a lot of it too had been caused by the first c-section. She said it looked like I had been literally butchered up in there and there was almost no medical explanation for how I got pregnant. She had to cut out a lot of scar tissue just to get to the baby. Now, most definitely I cannot have anymore as we took care of that because that last pregnancy about killed me. Doc didn't think it'd be a good idea to try that stunt again. I didn't care, I was happy. I had enough in the two children we had. Hubby was so funny after the surgery he was crying and he says "he was so beautiful I almost told them not to cut your tubes out." Haha. But then, of course I had to. We've discussed later on adopting to have more but right now is just not the time. We are blessed to have the two that we have already. And so, there you have it. When looking for miracles in everyday life, look to a child.

I apologize for this being so long but I think you get the picture!

Carol
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 7:30 AM  
I work in the medical field so I see what people can do to themselves and to others so I have become jaded in that it is hard for me to see miracles in most things with people however its being able to give families a last few minutes with some dying and not being sucked in and still go and do my job because I still enjoy even with the horrible!!! I just come home and play with my climbing roses with they are in bloom or just play with my plants trying to figure out what I want to do next with my yard because it is my neverending work of fun. This is my magical area that keeps me from going stark raving mad.
commented by Anonymous Anonymous, 2:30 PM  

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