Customer Reviews

The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you are middle aged and dealing with children who are adolescents or pre- (or post-) adolescents and are wondering why your life is so complicated and longing for a life that is simpler and more meaningful, then this is definitely the book for you! Approaching her 50's, Katrina Kennison suddenly finds herself overcome with longing for a life where her family is more connected and not so overwhelmed by appointments and schedules and materialism and all those issues which make a family that was close when the children were young into a family of strangers when the children grow into adolescents. She decides to uproot her family from Boston back to her childhood home in New Hampshire and falls in love with a summer cabin on 80 acres of land with a view of mountains and a pond, stream and woodlands. The cabin proves unlivable and eventually needs to be torn down for a new dwelling but, during the summer her family lives there without the benefit of computers and other accepted city distractions, they learn how to become a family again. At first resistant, they eventually slow down, read books, play catch, explore the land, watch the stars, and generally have a wonderful time enjoying their new lives. Throughout the ensuing few years of dealing with the potential empty nest, Katrina comes to find herself, find a new occupation, new friends, a new life altogether. She finds the meaning in her existence--a meaning that had been missing in their former busy city lives.

Although the prose is beautiful, it could be edited...that is the only fault I could find with this book. It is a heart-wrenching, speak-to-the gut book for any woman (or person) in their 40's, 50's or 60's, with children or without; to anyone who has questioned the meaning of their busy life and wondered what it would be like to live differently, to live a more simple, slower existence.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough--it has changed my life and the way that I look at and address my college-age children. Instead of hanging on to them, I now see that they need to find their own paths through life and this book has helped me to let go and to learn to find meaning in myself and my life as more than a mother. It is long but beautifully written; in places it is not easy to hear what the author has to say; but, believe me...every word of hers has the kind of value that will change your life.

Those incredibly full to bursting days of young parents and young children, the days that some days you thought would never end eventually do. And then you are sad.

"It is of course, a universal drama- children grow up, they leave home, clocks tick in empty bedroom, and untouched gallons of milk turn sour in the fridge because no one's there to drink them..."

You miss the person you had been, the very busy mom full of schedules, carpools, school events and suddenly one day your children are grown and you are done. "I missed the person I had been for them too, the younger, more capable mother who read aloud for hours, stuck raisin eyes into bear-shaped pancakes, created knight's amour from cardboard and duct tape. Certainly my talents didn't seem quite so impressive anymore, my company not as desirable as it once had been."

Now what? And "in an almost heartbreaking sense of just how short life really is, and how incomprehensible," you try to get on with the new life, the life with grown children.

The sudden impulse to do something crazy just because you realize time is fleeting and soon you may not be able. So Katrina Kenison jettisons into a house purchase; "And we're here because my more sensible husband, in his desire to please me, is willing to go along with- if not embrace- a vision he most definitely doesn't share."

All the minutiae of Of Katrina Kenison's life will differ from yours but the angst, the joy, the fulfillment, and the yearning will ring true.

This book hit me at that point where I am the mother who is almost done raising my children and wondering, "Is there life after this?" Kenison encouragingly writes that there is, but don't forget who you were and who you will become. And rejoice in that.

All of this was wonderful reading in the book and then suddenly a little more than half way through it just fell apart.

Katrina Kenison became tedious and I began skimming the pages to get to the end. The book that had started with such promise had lost its allure and I was done.

I cannot wait for this book to be over. This is yet another memoir that is mostly a diary turned into a book without sufficient editing.

The book followed a tiresome and repetitive formula, something like:

My life isn't exactly what I thought it would be. My sons aren't what I thought they would be. My house isn't what I thought it would be. And then the message, which is repeated over and over, is to embrace life, to live in the moment, to appreciate what you have instead of what you hoped you would have.

That is a nice message. But it's as if the author has to learn it 40 times throughout the book, and we the reader are dragged along through every banal epiphany.

After reading the comments, it seems like this book does resonate with people who are going through the exact same thing as she is. I'm in a different place in my life, so perhaps that has something to do with my dislike for the book.

She also comes across as being pretty self-absorbed and selfish. She makes huge decisions despite her entire family's protest in the name of self-growth. It seems like a problem of "wherever you go, there you are" to me. As in, she can change locations and homes as often as she wants, but she's still going to be herself. Which as far as I can tell, would be exhausting. I would want a break from it, too.

This book is heart warming. I am a mother of two boys going through the transition of the last one leaving the nest and heading off to college. She writes so beautifully of how she was guided to simplify their life, by moving out of the known into the unknown. She describes what we all go through on some level with the major transitions in life. Moving, one in college, last one in high school, a supportive husband, living with parents again...etc. This book details how they all adjusted to it all. I love that she wrote of her life story.....we all have one....I feel that I can cry, as I read along with Katrina knowing that we all have something in common. Thank you for sharing your story.

My review is so long in coming because it took me this long just to keep trying to finish the book. I know that most reviewers found this book to be so special and meaningful. It was ok, not spiritually uplifting or causing me to take pause and reflection on my life. I felt like the author just liked hearing herself mull over her adjective filled inner thoughts of minutia. Enough already is what I kept thinking. How many times was I going to need to read her describe in exhaustive detail what she felt were intricate details of natural beauty and revelations of spiritual growth and reflection. I'm really not into reading people's diaries and simply felt the author didn't offer any real interesting experiences or insights. Basically the entire book is about an ordinary family's mother's mid life crisis of inner soul searching over the course of maybe five years. I thought the author was incredibly self absorbed and in a way just dragged her family along on this process she was embarking upon for herself. Just don't take any day you are given for granted, enjoy the simple pleasures in life; often it's the day to day experiences which hold the most cherished memories and meanings rather than all the things that we think we need to see, do, have, or accomplish. There, I said in just one, though perhaps run on sentence which, that which took the reader over 300 pages of deliberate self absorbed dribble to convey.

It's always both comforting and practical to have a guide who goes before you, marking the trail and highlighting some of the beauty and challenges of the adventure. Katrina Kenison offers parents insights, ideas, and questions to ponder as they travel the life long practice of letting go. While this book focuses on letting older children fly away from the nest, the practice of letting go really begins at the time of their birth. The author's beautiful description of universal, ordinary, everyday moments, felt like it was speaking directly to me. I'm going to send this book to many parents this holiday season!

I had tears in my eyes while reading the introduction, and by the time I finished this book, Katrina Kenison was almost like an old friend. I cheered for her victories and felt sadness for her losses. She shares her most intimate feelings about motherhood, self-worth, and letting go of children as they grow into adults in "The Gift of an Ordinary Day". Her prose flows smoothly, and the reader is right there with her, whether admiring a beautiful New Hampshire landscape, waxing nostalgic over memories of her teenagers as babes, or delivering meals and support to a sick friend. She encourages us to look past the surface of things, to forget the baggy black sweatshirts and angry music, and see the needy young man underneath. He needs space to grow, but he hasn't stopped needing his mother. This book allows us to accompany her on a journey of several years, as her family moves (twice) and adjusts to new surroundings and newly grown young men. The tone is very sentimental, and there are liberal sprinklings of quotes which occasionally, I felt were so abundant as to be distracting. Overall, though, a good book that may have you reconsidering your path in life and the way that you raise your children.

I saw my wife intently reading her copy of this memoir and couldn't resist a peek of my own, despite its subtitle.. "mother's memoir". I ended up reading the entire thing and found it strangely compelling. Kenison tells the story of leaving her urban life (in Boston) for something simpler and more genuine (small town New Hampshire), both for her and her family. You don't have to be a woman or a mother to relate to that . But the story itself is not what's so compelling..it's the perceptiveness of the author.. her ability to reflect and to articulate. Kenison seems to be able to put into words what many of us are thinking. She's a born writer..I'll be looking for more from her.

I purchased Ms. Kenison's first book several years ago and thoroughly enjoyed reading about her relationship with her sons and the affect modern life has on everyday practices. As I don't read written word easily, I listened to her own voice as she described sitting in a tree with her Mother as a little girl and the many experiences she holds onto with her sons. Upon finishing the book, I purchased 12 copies to give as gifts at a women's retreat I hosted a few month's later.

I am a Mother of 2 sons who struggles with the same heart pulling experiences and thought the story offered a wonderful version of this life we're living.

As with the first book, I am again compelled to offer up this collection as well to Mothers going through the same mid-life events that give me pause.

I listened to the book's dreamy cadence spoken by the writer and cried more than once to the parallels in my life. Hopefully, it will give me the same courage again to view my life with glasses not of rose color, but all the colors I can see. And bring me closer to my boys.

I read this book till the wee morning hours. Couldn't put it down. Katrina writes of something I've been craving SOMEONE to write about...the transition to mother of children to mother of teenagers to mother of adults. The letting go, the struggle, the keeping the mouth shut, the trusting, the stepping back. Beautifully written. There is about 2 or 3 sentences on every single page that I wish I could frame and hang above my kitchen sink.