The My Favorite! column is a weekly celebration of all things joyful. The parameters are simple. I asked some creative friends to write a few sentences about something that gives them great joy. Could be anything. An album or painting. Those extra bits of cloth people sometimes button onto shirt shoulders. Or in this case, yoga in the sun.

Jane Benson

“I love Swedes. My dad was 100% Swedish American. Both sets of his grandparents came from Sweden. My dad and my son, Andrew, are my two favorite people ever. Both are kind, logical types. I also love Tomtes, those little Santa-like, Swedish elves dressed in red. Tomtes equal happiness! I love that the Swedes love Saint Lucia and sing Swedish songs about her. When my dad passed in 2015 I was very sad. For Thanksgiving 2016, my son brought home with him two friends from college – coincidentally, two young women from Sweden. We went to my cousin’s house and laughed and wore crowns and sang ‘Sankta Lucia’ in Swedish. The young women were impressed that this lapsed Lutheran knew all the words. It felt like my dad was winking ‘hello.’”

BIO
Jane Benson is a writer living in Natick, Mass. She freelances for the great Anne Taintor, the original vintage humor company. Anne wrote about Jane in her blog. And Jane wrote a column about her dad. Jane also writes sicence-y stuff.

Want to share your joy?
You can participate in the My Favorite! column. Just send me a paragraph or two about something that makes you delightfully happy, a short bio, and a photo of yourself. If you have a photo of the happy-making thing, that would be great to. Get in touch at nick@nickzaino.com