Extraordinary beauty seems to happen when we are not at all waiting for it, and it takes us aback with its perfection. Most of the time, it's unplanned. Even when we try to have "no expectations," so often the very process of planning for something sets us up for... disappointment.
There is beauty in the imperfection, as you said... it's why I love many of the Japanese cultural tenets such as wabi-sabi (embracing imperfection and transience) and mono no aware (awareness of the impermanence of things, matched with a gentle wistfulness at their passing) which ultimately amount to an acceptance and embracing of life as it is.
I experienced my own moment of Presence an hour or so ago, and perhaps what made it most perfect was that I resisted the temptation to dash for my camera in a vain attempt to capture something utterly uncapturable. Instead, it simply unfolded. Like your sunrise.
The rising and setting of the sun seems to be one of the most broadly evocative parts of the human experience. Somehow, it is as if we — even if just for a few moments — connect intensely with the deepest essence of ourselves.
Maybe you should write all my posts as it seems you're able to say what I think far better, and more succinctly, than I ever could; I'm just a knucklehead who thinks some stuff and tries to write it after all.
Thanks for your comment and it's nice to hear I'm not the only one to allow moments to simply unfold as they will and to sit still within nature and let it be.