Funny.  Moving.  Heartfelt.  What an unexpected treat!  

 

After seeing trusted friends rave over this read, I expected to enjoy it.  But I didn’t expect to love it with my whole being the way I did.  

 

I laughed.  I cried.  My soul ached, and my heart felt full.  There was such a genuineness with the way joy and grief were intertwined. Newman struck the perfect balance of emotion which resonated deeply.  

 

“It's so crushingly beautiful, being human," the mother sighs, and the daughter rolls her eyes and says, "But also so terrible and ridiculous."

 

It’s not often that a book comes along and makes me feel as seen as this one did. I mean... my son just started middle school, so I’m not in the same stage of life as our FMC.  Yet, the musings regarding motherhood, the overwhelming love for our children, watching parents age, and feeling our own bodies decline (ahem—the frozen shoulder I was recently diagnosed with) all felt so vividly, deeply relatable.  

 

“This may be the only reason we were put on this earth. To say to each other, I know how you feel. To say, Same.”

 

Newman crafted a refreshing look at the aging process that felt authentic and profound filled with wit and humor.  I closed the last pages with a deep sense of gratitude—in much the same way our FMC did—for the multitudes that have created me into the person I am today and for the people it’s brought along my way.