Author and radio personnel David Sedaris is best known for his witty and sarcastic writing. His essays detailing his childhood OCD, dysfunctional family, and his Christmas season working as an elf in Macy’s Santa Land are famous for leaving audiences gasping for breath. However, when I heard Sedaris speak on November 5, I found a sweet and compassionate side of his writing that seems to slip under the radar.

At the young age of 12, I was introduced to the world of Sedaris when after being in a horrible mood all day, my dad read me an essay titled “Jesus Shaves”. Although the vulgar and edgy world of Sedaris is not usually seen as fit for a 12-year-old, I immediately fell in love with his hilarious and perfectly witty way of writing and began to read Sedaris’s works. When I saw that he would be coming to Aspen on November 5 I was ecstatic, and wasted no time in getting my tickets, and began the process of pre-gaming by reading his works over and over again.

The night of the fifth finally came, and Sedaris did not disappoint. Instead of reading essays from his previous works such as “Me Talk Pretty One Day”, or his most recent compilation “Let’s Talk About Diabetes With Owls”, Sedaris read from a collection of essays that are in the works. Like his previous essays, his clever manner of writing had the entirety of the Wheeler Opera House clutching their sides and gasping for breath, nearly in tears from laughter. However, I found this new series of essays to bring out a side I had not seen much before in Sedaris’s writing: a deep sense of love.

I had never heard Sedaris speak before, but I was well versed in his life having read every book he had ever published, and even having portions of his essays memorized. While there had been moments where I felt his tenderness for his family, mostly he just detailed the hilarious and cringe worthy instances in his life, such as his love and lack of talent for theater, and his childhood experience with crippling OCD, leading him to prod, poke, tap, or lick everything in sight. He had shared his most disconcerting and innermost details of his life, however his love and compassion for his family rarely shone through.

While essays of the past such as “Women’s Open” had often ridiculed and criticized Sedaris’s father, this new series of essays that all took place at his beach house in North Carolina (dubbed the Sea Section) portrayed him in a new light. While Sedaris still mocked his father’s support of presidential candidate Donald Trump and made perpetual sarcastic remarks about his hammertoes, he also detailed his father’s love for his family. In between the moments of humor were moments of true love and appreciation for family.

While I still cried from laughing so hard, Sedaris’s reading left me with a deeper message. Though I had come for a laugh, I left feeling a sense of love for my family. Through his humor, Sedaris highlighted what we all feel: an inexplicable love and pride for our families no matter how dysfunctional they may be.