Mother's Guide to the Meaning of Life : What Being a Mom Has Taught Me about Resiliency, Guilt, Acceptance, and Love

by Amy Krause Rosenthal

• ISBN13: 9781579543426
• ISBN10: 1579543421
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2001-04-07
• Publisher: Daybreak Books

Summary

Offering a series of essays, anecdotes, vignettes, and asides, the author explores the universal themes of motherhood, from guilt and inadequacy to joy and magic to the astonishing sense of self-discovery that comes with being a mother.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Cast of Characters	xiii
introduction Go Putting an End to Not Starting	1	(7)
Words That Move a Mother	8	(4)
Such a Nice Chapter	12	(11)
On Displeasing Some of the People Some of the Time
The Essential Traits of a Mother	17	(6)
Running Away	23	(9)
Are You Still a Good Mother if You Fantasize about Bailing for a Few Hours . . . Or Years?
A Mother's Essential Reading	29	(3)
Learning to Walk	32	(7)
After 35 Years, I'm Learning How
What If We Could Age Nonsequentially?
A Cameo by Wendy Abrams	37	(2)
(Mom)E-Mail	39	(13)
A Friend in Need Is a Friend Online
A Mother's Heroes	50	(2)
Magic Wand	52	(9)
Trading In the Old You
A Mother's Hidden Talents	60	(1)
Ruts, Frogs, and Jellybeans	61	(14)
On Getting Unstuck
A Rhyming Summary of the Universe	70	(5)
Snapshots from My Guilt Trip	75	(16)
No Matter What You Forget to Pack, It All Works Out in the End
Waiting in Line for My Teenagers
A Cameo by Barb Cooke	83	(8)
Life Sentence	91	(8)
A Stream of the Unconscionable
The Music of Motherhood	96	(3)
6:30 P.M., Central Standard Time	99	(9)
How Changing Our Dinner Plans Changed Our Lives
The Cherry Falls from the Tree
A Cameo by Daniel Spatucci	105	(3)
Scotch Tape on the Ukulele	108	(8)
Welcome to Self-Importance
Lollipop Tree	115	(1)
Touch the Sock	116	(7)
Knocking on Wood and Other Prayers
Grocery List	123	(1)
Punchlist for Contractor	124	(1)
Questions for Parent/Teacher Conference	125	(1)
Phone Messages	126	(2)
Corrections	128