Comment: OMG. This book rocks!

Yes, I’m here to tell you today about an incredible book that has just come out. Kristin Maschka has written a book about motherhood (a mamafesto, if you will) that really resonates. “This is Not How I Thought it Would Be: Remodeling Motherhood to Get the Lives We Want Today” is sharp, reassuring, witty, and timely.

Wasn’t I just kvetching about mothers’ underappreciated status last post? What did I just say?

I haven’t even finished the book, but I urge you to go out and buy it. If you’re feeling ambitious, you should get your husband or significant other to read it, too.

Maschka, whom I’ve had the good fortune to spend a brief but very pleasant amount of time with, combines personal history with spot-on research about people’s perceptions and realities about motherhood and how to make it work for EVERYONE in the family.

Finally, somebody is (eloquently) saying what so many of us women who are mothers have been thinking: Did I really sign up for this?

I’m feeling really validated as I read, knowing that I’m not the only one who woke up one morning in Pleasantville and wondered how I’d become the cook, chauffeur, cleaner and child care go-to person in my marriage.

Mothers and More, which is mentioned frequently in Maschka’s book, is where I met Kristin, along with many other wonderful and similarly-disgruntled women who are mothers and have been wondering how they got where they are.

Finally, ambivalence is being addressed intelligently. The bonus? There are actual solutions on how to have a more balanced life. Kristin walks the walk, talks the talk, rocks the block.

I’ll write more about this book as I read it, but it couldn’t come at a better time for me, personally; I’m in transition, and I’m about to experience some of the challenges of going back to work.

I’m glad I have Kristin Maschka to help guide me through it.