Gold in sand

I had a Russian lit professor in college who, through the sheer intensity of his passion and love for his study, passed onto me (and a whole lotta others) a deep, lasting appreciation for Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Just now I'm reminded of a passage from Anna Karenina when considering the Royals' four-game winning streak:

...The children themselves were even now repaying her in small joys for her sufferings. Those joys were so small that they passed unnoticed, like gold in sand, and at bad moments she could see nothing but the pain, nothing but sand; but there were good moments too when she saw nothing but the joy, nothing but gold.

From Part III, Chapter 7, when Darya Alexandrovna realizes that small joys are what sustain life. Yes, spring training really doesn't matter -- after all, our Royals won the Cactus League last year on their way to a less-than-stellar season -- but a four-game win streak is as good as a four-game win streak.