November is always a roller coaster of a month for me.

It’s my busiest time of the year at work as I compile roundups for Veterans Day military discounts. Then life abruptly slows down, giving me just enough time to rest before prepping for Thanksgiving. This year that meant shopping and cooking and doubling my laundry as my college junior returned for a week. Finally I hit the stage I’m in now, the let down of a beautiful feast, sending that college junior back to school and the realization that Christmas shopping and wrapping and mailing needs to get done. Throw in an emotionally charged presidential election, and this November made me want to hibernate under my weighted blanket the rest of winter.

But between the long work days and the many hours in the kitchen, between the stress and the chaos, I still found joy.

Taking my 17-year-old daughter to vote with me, the last presidential election she’ll be too young to vote in herself.

The emails from readers thanking me for writing my Veterans Day article, and the annual photo of my Army vet father getting his free Veterans Day lunch at Applebee’s.

Eating that Thanksgiving feast with my boyfriend and my two kids, our geriatric Labrador retriever nudging our elbows to request some turkey, then our annual family walk on the beach afterward.

Even spending hours stacking some of my favorite books into the shape of a Christmas tree, a time-consuming project that makes me smile every single time I look at it.

I believe we have to find joy where and when we can. Sometimes joy is all around, practically tangible with its intention. But other times, it needs to be a conscious effort, we have to dig a little deeper to scoop it up from under the surface of the stress and chaos. And as November, this month of thankfulness, comes to a close, I vow to do my best to continue finding joy wherever and whenever I can.

Happy holidays! I hope you find your joy.

From the Archives

11 years ago on November 22, I left a courtroom with a different marital status and a last name I hadn't used in 13 years. As I walked away, I emailed a kind editor who agreed to sit on an essay I’d given him until everything was finalized. An hour later I announced my divorce in The New York Times in an essay called A Military Wife No More.

Recent Reads

I love books, and I make time to read because I believe in the importance of reading as a writer. I also like to mix up my genres, flip-flopping between novels and nonfiction (mostly memoirs). Here’s what I read or am currently reading this month:

• Liars by Sarah Manguso

• A Heart That Works by Rob Delaney

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe from harm.

May you live with ease.💫