Month of Joy: My Father by Ausma Zehanat Khan
My father was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease several years ago. Unfortunately, his variant of the disease included symptoms of gradually worsening dementia. The tragic irony of this is that my father was a psychiatrist for whom mental health was a lifelong calling. When I was in high school casting about for projects to work on, my father would recommend that I shed light on issues such as depression, personality disorder, or addiction. He helped me with these projects, teaching me to grapple with all sides of an issue, but he made sure I understood that the well-being of the patient should be central.
Month of Joy: Socks by Rhiannon Held
Something that never fails to bring me joy is $1 Target seasonal socks. I know I’m not alone in my enjoyment of fancy, patterned socks—they’re the subject of entire specialty stores, one of which is even a 5-minute drive from my apartment, not to mention the staggering variety available online. Patterned socks are a way to be wild, or twee, or geeky in secret, a mark of personality that doesn’t necessarily have to be shared with anyone else. The only trouble, I find, with many of the patterned socks available out there is their price. If we accept the fatuous financial advice currency of lattes (Give up one latte a day and soon—!) most pairs cost two lattes, if not three. For me, that makes them a “get one pair and try to really, really enjoy it” item. A “self-control” item. And that’s not a simple pleasure anymore. That’s an adulting pleasure, one that drags with it a complicated tangle of required self-control and then guilt if you fail to properly deploy that control. And I understand the appeal of purchasing one, ridiculously expensive chocolate truffle and savoring every single bite (all two of them). I do! But I also understand a wish to sometimes stuff yourself with chocolate and not have to either blow your monthly grocery budget in one trip to the artisan chocolate store or have your coworker look at you and sniff, “How can you eat those store brand chocolates? They taste like wax.”
