Every month I chronicle those everyday things that give me comfort or offer a place of reflection or joy. Here are my everyday delights for September:
1. This Pen
I love walking into an office supply store to experiment with new pens. I enjoy anticipating how the pen will land on the paper. When I am finished writing, I judge the arc of the letters to determine if I like the pen enough to buy it. During my birthday this month, one of my dearest and closest friends gave me a hand crafted fountain pen made by a local artist. Although I’ve always loved pens, I’ve never owned a fountain pen.
2. This Wood Carved Sign
It may come as no surprise that I love the Lord of Rings trilogy. Some of my favorite scenes involve the Shire, the idyllic land that is inhabited by the Hobbits. The Shire is a place of love and depicts the comforts of home. At our home, above the door, we’ve placed a wood sign that is carved with the words, the Shire. I adore this simple, but meaningful delight.
3. Cards in the Mail
Walking to my postal box and getting the mail is one of my favorite everyday delights. I know many complain that the only thing waiting for them are a bundle of bills, but during September I usually get a few birthday cards in the mail. This year I received not one, but four cards from friends. It means so much to see a handwritten note/card that you can relish opening, since so much of our communication centers around email and texting.
4. Surprises
The night before my birthday, the doorbell rang. I opened the door and my sister appeared on my welcome mat. She flew down to join my mom (who flew down earlier in the month) to help celebrate my birthday. I felt comforted by having my favorite women in the same room with me all throughout the weekend.
What were some of your everyday delights in September?
Welcome! I am a lawyer turned freelance writer, essayist, and editor. On staff at Literary Mama and the co-founder and co-editor of the literary journal, The Sunlight Press, my essays and reported work have appeared in The Washington Post, The Lily, Saveur, Civil Eats, Brain, Child, ESPN and elsewhere. I am currently at work on a memoir on grief and culture and how it provides perspective on life’s ordinary graces. I invite you to appreciate the ordinary with me. I hope my daily practice of seeing the magic in the mundane helps you celebrate and find more of these moments in your life too.
Oh my goodness! A surprise visit from my sister and mom would be a highlight of my month, too! How awesome.
I love your Shire sign! I’m not a huge LOTR fan but I can appreciate its meaning. I recently bought a quirky sign for above my door that says “hola” in machine-carved script, painted red. Since most of my pictures are still hanging up in my other house (staging it for sale), we decorated our new place with an assortment of posters I bought during my study abroad year in Spain. It’s been really fun to see them again after so many years in a poster tube, and the Hola sign really pulls it all together.
Sarah,
I love how you used mementos from your past to decorate your new place. Combining the nostalgia of the past into your fresh space seems like the perfect match. The Hola sign adds a fun touch.
I enjoyed spending time with my sister and mom. So comforting to be able to spend my birthday with them.
Fabulous pen!
Oooo, I love this! I haven’t received a card or letter in the mail in ages, though when I did, it always warmed my heart. Nice pens and beautiful plates, bowls, and mugs also mean a lot to me.
Cards and letters seem to have reached a level of extinction, but when you do receive one, it becomes the exclamation point of the week. I also enjoy coffee mugs too.
Your sister and mother (and you) are so beautiful!
I love doorstep surprises. I have done them a few times in life and it’s BIG.
I love wooden signs and I STILL owe my husband something wooden for our sixth year anniversary.. even though I’m quite a few months late.
Thanks, Tamara. We took this particular picture at my sister’s wedding.
Doorstep surprises are the best (only if they are good ones).
Chiming in to say
1) I also LOVE trying new pens (and now I miss the fountain pen I had when I was a teen–maybe time to investigate a replacement!);
2) You all look so beautiful in that photograph; and
3) Most importantly…Happy Birthday (belated, I’m guessing)!!!!
September everyday delights…for me it seems to be ginger. I can’t seem to get enough of it, in any form! Must mean something. Fits well with fall too, I suppose, being warm and spicy.
Kristen:
Thanks for the belated birthday wishes, Kristen. (My birthday was on Sep 20).
I love new pens, pretty stationery and fresh journals.
Ginger is a must in Indian cooking. You would love dinner at my house.
First off – happy birthday! And, you all look incredible!
Secondly, to have family still to come and visit you – what a gift that is, in itself.
Third, a few of my moments in September were simple (in an otherwise overloaded month) – the Skype visit of one of my sons, a few phone calls from the other. These are such lovely moments when they occur (always spontaneously) – and a reminder of what matters.
(By the way, I have a favorite pen as well, for journal writing. It’s a pleasure in the hand, and adds to the pleasure in the writing.)
I agree that it’s wonderful to receive handwritten cards or letters in the mail. It happens so infrequently these days, it really feels special. To see the handwriting of friends and family and know that they touched those cards makes you feel closer to them. What a treasure.
What a lovely photo of you, your mom and sister.
Jackie: Yes. Handwritten notes and cards evoke a feeling that isn’t really captured elsewhere. I am so fortunate that I do receive these pieces of goodness throughout the year.
(Sorry for the delay in responding – I am playing catch up on my blog responses).
I realized that the reason I love this series is because it has such a calming, meditative effect…I love how you not only pay attention to the big and small things that bring you joy and peace but also that you make the point of surrounding yourself with these things. Your question about what our September everyday delights were made me realize that I *don’t* do any of this. I’ve drawn a total blank and I can’t remember what my everyday joys were or if there had been any. So thank you. I told you earlier in the year that I would borrow your idea and start this on my blog as well, and now I think it is really time to do that!!
Your photo of you, your sister and mother is beautiful. Happy birthday once again!
This exercise helps me find an immediate way to reach out to those little or big things that helped me during the month. I am so glad you started this same exercise on your blog. I look forward to reading your faves.
Those are awesome things to be thankful for! I’m so glad your mom and sister came to visit!!
I am glad too, Tiffany. (Sorry for the delay in responding – I am playing catch up on responses). Hope you are doing well.