The question
What period or moment in your life brought you the most joy?Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
In the hospital giving birth to my second daughter with my first daughter right there in the room as it was happening. I don’t remember any pain. I just remember feeling more alive and full of fierce mama bear love than at any other point in my life.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, August 2023 source ↗
This morning, surrounded by my children and my wife, Kayte.
On a walking safari in the middle of the Kenyan bush. I had no phone, no mirror, nothing, and I was really happy because I had no distractions.
Driving golf balls into the cricket pavilion on summer evenings in my pajamas.
When my daughter, Katie, was born and when she got married.
Meghan Markle. I don’t know how she continues to walk through this world with the grace, strength, and purpose that she does given the unbearable amount of vitriol and hate she has been subjected to, but she does. I wish she didn’t have to.
Balloons. I have a big phobia of balloons. Big.
Being at home on a Sunday night with my husband, Will, and all of our children, eating chicken tikka masala and naan from our favorite restaurant.
If hoarding and procrastination were Olympic sports, I’d have at least 70 gold medals.
In my bed at home at a ripe old age with the knowledge that my children, and grandchildren if I have any, are thriving, happy, and provided for.
Robert Carlyle, Zoë Wanamaker, Sarah Parish, Niamh Cusack, Elisabeth Moss, Rosanna Arquette
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