This is a weekly series I’m writing in 2016 to focus on one of my three words for the year: beauty. Each Monday a post will explore some aspect of beauty that I’ve been considering. Read more about my focus words of the year.

Yay! It’s leap year day! To me, this day is the epitome of beauty in the unexpected. A year has 365 days. The month of February has 28 days, 672 hours, 40,320 minutes. Well, it does every year except leap year which gives us the unexpected 366th day in the year, the 29th day of February, as well as as additional 24 hours and 1,440 minutes. And it happens every 4 years, except every turn-of-the-century-year when it doesn’t happen. Whoa.

Sometimes I think we don’t take enough advantage of the unexpected, we don’t see the beauty in something or someone that makes us veer off the tried-and-true course, to experience something different. For instance, how often do we get annoyed with a co-worker who interrupts us while we are in the midst of a work groove? Something breaks the usual and it’s so easy to get annoyed or frustrated or to only give half our attention.

Or maybe it’s the unexpected meeting we need to attend, or the blast from the past we didn’t see coming but is suddenly before us. Maybe it’s a new friendship or an old one being rekindled. Maybe it’s that unexpected piece of mail that brightens the day. Or maybe it’s as simple as an extra day every four years - an extra 24 hours to live and to love.

The unexpected can be tough, but it can also be beautiful, depending on how we deal with it That co-worker or boss who is interrupting (students often in my case) - there are two choices to dealing with that unexpected interruption. One: half pay attention to what they are saying and hope they go away. Two: give all your attention to that moment and embrace the unexpected. The first option continues the annoyance, because we’re totally focused on what we want to be doing and how much of an unexpected burden is suddenly before us. The second option flips the unexpected annoyance to an unexpected opportunity to show a little love to the person before us.

There are those great unexpected moments that just happen to us - a beautiful sunrise we’re gifted with on the way to work, a deer grazing in a nearby field, a butterfly perched on a flower, a happy couple together, a newborn baby, a sweet compliment from a stranger, and on and on…

And there are those great unexpected moments courtesy of another - the phone call from a friend, the text from a loved-one just saying hello, a snail mail letter, a Facebook wall post, a sweet Instagram message. All of those moments are unexpected and awesome when we receive them, how much better if we are also the ones giving those unexpected moments to others.

So, for me on this unexpected extra day of the year, I’m going to send a little unexpected love to people. So hopefully they too see the beauty in the unexpected.

Where have you found beauty in the unexpected?