Joy and Community in Surgery

My wife Nancy is a voluminous reader of books (you remember the things printed on paper). After 30 years of marriage, it dawned on me that we have never really shared books. Therefore, we decided to try and enrich our marriage by exchanging books. I asked her to pick out five books that she enjoyed and share them with me so that we could talk about them and have them “in common.” Incidentally, when I asked my wife to pre-read this article, she said, “you make me sound like a total downer” based on the books she had given me to read. In all honesty, my wife Nancy is the most positive person I know, and my kids are a direct reflection of her positive energy. While she refuted my initial portrayal of the books she shared as they somehow portrayed her in a non-joyful light, I realized that each of those books challenged me to think about finding joy in non-standard communities.