This week, my dad would have been 100 years old.

When I was a little girl and would worry about him he always chuckled and said, "Girl, I'm going to live to be a hundred." When he passed away more than a decade short of that goal, the little girl inside me raged about the broken promise.

But today, I look at my life and the lives of my children and I see him. I see his influence, his love, and his acceptance.

And I know that he didn't break a promise at all. He made it not only to one hundred but will live on well beyond. The lesson he taught me about making sure the people you love know it may have been the greatest gift of all.

His legacy of unconditional love lives on in my family. Happy birthday, Daddy. And thank you for that gift and all the others.

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In other news, this week and next I'm in the seaside town of Varna. I've just arrived so no Black Sea photos yet. I'm sharing a few shots from the neighborhood here. It's definitely more rundown than Sofia. You can see hints of the Communist era all around you here, in the architecture and the poverty.

But despite it all, people still plant flowers. I saw the most gorgeous peony I've ever seen in my life here - it was a deep, vivid magenta that was almost crimson in color and it peeked out of the overgrown grass of someone's yard, demanding my attention.

As well, there are determined irises poking up in otherwise barren patches of earth surrounded by makeshift fences. To plant a bulb is, to me, the most hopeful thing of all. It means that you are determined to be there in a few months to a year to see that bulb turn into a flower.

To plant flowers when you live in a place so gray is a beautiful thing. It's not just decorative. It's a declaration of the human spirit.

And when you think about that, you can see those declarations through the cloudy windows when you catch a peek of a crocheted lace curtain or a pretty blue vase the color of a summer sky. Beautiful things must always exist if only to remind us that drudgery or hard work or struggles are not all there are to life. They remind us that we can thrive no matter what and that thriving is a state of mind, not just an act.

So today, look around and see those beautiful things in your surroundings. Even if they aren't the surroundings you wish you had, even if they don't seem like beautiful surroundings at all. Look for those little glimpses of light and art and beauty, for when those things were purchased, planted, or made, it was a declaration of hope for the future.

Regardless of the gray and bleak times we may face, the reminders of better times and hope are always there. Sometimes you just need to look harder than other times.

When you can find the beauty in what others see as ugly, you will always be happier.