Every month I chronicle those ordinary delights that give me comfort or offer a place of reflection or joy. Here are my everyday delights for July:
1. Wonder
We were on vacation last week and I adore this photograph of my daughter. Witnessing her gaze and her ability to sink into the moment with awe made my highlight reel on this trip. She’s on the cusp of innocence and knowledge and I am so grateful I grabbed this glimmer of wonder.
2. Bookmarks
I love bookmarks and collected them as a young girl. When the book fair visited at school, I scrounged up just enough change to buy a plastic bookmark with its signature tassel. I intersected with a painter during our vacation and smiled as he painted these bookmarks.
3. My readers
I felt so much love this week from my readers, especially during a season where I talked about how much I struggle to find a landing place for my grief. So many of you reached out either here, through Twitter and Facebook, offering words of condolences and shoulders to lean on. Our virtual world is sometimes seen as a nemesis, but I am grateful for the love, hugs and voices of comfort. So thank you, dear readers, for your continued support. All of you make me feel less alone. For that, I am grateful.
4. Podcast with Maria Popova
My husband is an avid listener of podcasts and often tunes into Tim Ferriss’s Four Hour Work Week. He asked me to listen to one particular session. I highly recommend this segment, a Q & A with Maria Popova who authors of my favorite websites, Brain Pickings. It is 30 minutes, but it is time well spent. She answers questions about the creative process and provides some concrete insights on navigating art and life.
5. This view
I caught the sun setting at the right time this month and captured this shot. I love how the clouds dot the sky and sun is exiting with a fierceness. This quote, I thought, explained the essence of this moment: “The pale stars were sliding into their places. The whispering of the leaves was almost hushed. All about them it was still and shadowy and sweet. It was that wonderful moment when, for lack of a visible horizon, the not yet darkened world seems infinitely greater—a moment when anything can happen, anything believed in.” – Olivia Dunbar
What delighted you this month?
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.
What a great practice to recognize the simple pleasures in life Rudri. I’m so sorry to hear about your father. Readers are definitely awesome and amaze us at the times we need them most.
Thanks, Nina. I appreciate your condolences.
And yes, it’s so comforting to count on readers.
What a lovely sunset. I had some lovely sunsets up in the White Mountains. That and it being my birthday. Everything was surprising and delightful.
I love that photo of your daughter! I feel like I’m finally getting out of the newborn sleep-deprived haze and I can view moments with my kids with a little more perspective… even if it’s just finding humor in a tantrum instead of feeling despair.
You might also like Elizabeth Gilbert’s Magic Lessons podcast – it’s about the creative process and she’s focusing on how women, moms in particular, can carve out space to make it happen.
A great capture of your daughter, I love the photograph. Wonderful post my friend. Xoxo
I was trying to catch up on your father’s birthday post and this one – ha took my thoughts a minute to populate. I’ve had a slow thought week. You’re a very sharp lady I doubt your memory will deteriorate anytime soon. The progression of episodic memory loss is in a gradient form from most recent memories going first to the earliest memories going last. And this is in cases of retrograde amnesia. I have no doubt you will have your memories for life, esp of those in regards to your childhood. Grieving is not something I’ve experienced yet so I can’t speak from experience but I hope it gets easier for you with time.. Maybe celebrate his birthday every year as you would when he was alive so you have others to share that sad day with and hopefully, it is less hard to get through. Throw a fancy tea party with tea cakes and discuss politics. 🙂 I adore Maria Popova’s site – it is truly inspiring and insightful. Have a great one Rudri and take care! -Iva
I’m a bit late to this post, Rudri, but I so love your monthly list of delights.
What a lovely idea to have those bookmarks painted. I’m sure they will be treasured for years to come! I have a collection of bookmarks from independent bookstores I’ve visited around the country. (It’s a must-do for me to stop at indie bookstores whenever I’m in a new city.) Right now my go-to bookmark is from Octavia Books in New Orleans. It brings warm memories each time I use it. 🙂