This Is Not the Life I Ordered is for anyone who has ever felt overworked, overwhelmed, or just plain unlucky (and, who hasn’t?!). Through this collection of stories, wisdom, and practical advice, readers will meet four ordinary women who have faced extraordinary life challenges. Together, they have a history of six marriages, ten children, four stepchildren, six dogs, two miscarriages, two cats, a failed adoption, and foster parenthood. One of them was shot and left for dead on a tarmac in South America and two have lived through the death of their spouses.
This book started simply with four friends getting together for "kitchen table coaching sessions" to talk about their lives. Week by week and story by story, they realized their great advice to each other could help other women struggling with life's myriad issues of work, family, and love, as well as the big questions of life and death. For over a decade, the power and strength of their collective friendship enabled these women not only to survive but to thrive.
Does that sound inspring or what? I haven't read the book yet, but I plan to go out and buy it as soon as possible. Here is an excerpt that I found on the website.
We learned an important lesson in our decade-long friendships. We learned that we had been fooled. We had convinced ourselves that if we could manage our schedules, break through the glass ceiling, spend quality time with our families, bring home the bacon (and fry it up in a pan) while bouncing children on our hips and creating warm and loving relationships with our husbands, in-laws, and colleagues, somehow, some way, we would be rewarded with the problem-free lives that had, up until then, eluded us. We were wrong.
I hope all the women who read my blog have a supportive group of girlfriends they can share their stories with. I hope we can learn to lean on each other and survive and thrive despite the unfortunate events that life sometimes throws our way. And I want to give a "shout out" to all my girlfriends who have been an incredible support to me during my hard times so far.
6 comments:
I support you!!
you are easy to love and support. i've said it before and i will say it again-it's an honor to be your friend. i think you are amazing and strong and truely inspiring. thanks for your friendship-i love ya sis!
-rose
As Mick Jagger once said.."you can't always get what you want, but if you try sometime you just might find, you get what you need...."
the book is in stock at the natomas borders so you could always call and have them hold it for you since it's right by church... the number for the natomas store is 515-1944.
I heard about this book on NPR a couple of weeks ago. I haven't read it yet, but definitely sounds right up our alleys.
The message kind of reminds me of what a nurse told you in the hospital in SF. She said something like, "Giving birth to a child and finding out there are problems, is kind of like going on a beach vacation after much planning and preparation and having the destination change mid-air to a mountain location. You aren't prepared, you didn't really want to go there, but once you adjust and look around there are plenty of enjoyable things there, too. It isn't what you planned but you learn a lot about the mountains and how to have fun there, too." Does that sound familiar? I seem to remember you found comfort in it at the time. I think about that often, and I would also love to read this book! Love, Mom
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