Lift

After finishing Lift, I did something I've never done before. I turned around and read it again. Not on the same day, but within a couple of weeks. The first reading took place over the course of two days. I wanted to savor this slim little book, taking in the freshness of Kelly's new work, wishing with each turned page that it was longer. The second reading took place yesterday afternoon. Snuggled under a blanket on the couch, snow gently falling outside, Post-it Note flags in hand, I began to read. And in my head I could hear Kelly's voice, sharing her stories with her young daughters, feeling a tug in my chest and a lump in my throat as I read the words that I knew would cause her to choke back her own tears. I love this book. It spoke to me on so many levels and I found myself nodding my head in agreement or recognition at least a dozen times. After I finished the first reading, I went to work and couldn't stop talking about what I'd just read. I found beautiful passages and read them aloud to coworkers. I made a mental note of friends and relatives I thought might also enjoy the book. And what timing! Tucked in a small basket with a bottle of perfume or lotion, and a little box of Godiva chocolate, Lift, with its warm and honest testimony of a mother's love, would make a perfect Mother's Day gift. I rarely ever read the jacket blurbs or author endorsements until after I've read a book, so I was quite surprised to see the comparison to Lindbergh's Gift of the Sea. About halfway into Lift, I had that exact same thought and even went so far as to go upstairs to find my copy of Gift of the Sea, with plans to read it again. Bravo, Kelly! What a treasure you've given not only to your readers, but most importantly to your daughters.

I'm a guy. Reading this book helped me to understand how women think, how women feel, what women want, and a lot of things I never knew before. It helped me to understand my mother, my wife, my sister, and all the other women and mothers who have always seemed so mysterious to me. The author does a fabulous job of conjuring those telling moments in her family life. Her economical use of words in distilling those moments and emotions was simply magical. Guys, read it when she is finished. You'll be glad that you did.

I picked up my copy of Lift and sat down on the floor of my bedroom and just read it - I didn't move for an hour. Just as I did with the Middle Place, I laughed and wept. Mostly I felt relieved that like Kelly I don't know what souvenirs to keep and don't know whether I am doing damage when I "verbally discipline" my adorable children but tonight I found myself giggling in my kitchen as I cleaned up the dinner dishes and listened to my 6 and 8 yr olds try to figure out all the words to a Ben Folds song. Thank you Kelly for telling your stories. They not only entertain, they resonate.

Like The Middle Place MIDDLE PLACE, LIFT has the ability to cause you to take pause from your busy life and think about what's important to you, what you really care about, and what you should be thankful for. How many books do that? A quick but fulfilling read, a special book.

While this book may perhaps on its face seem to be talking primarily to mothers (and is certainly being marketed as such), as a dad of two i can say that it resonated with me just as much as it did with my wife. Okay, well, maybe not the part about early menopause...but just about everything else. This book is the perfect gift for ANYONE who is a parent (or wants to be) and serves as an inspiration for all of us to write a letter, or a series of letters over time, to our kids. Kelly is as sentimental as someone can possibly be without ever becoming implausibly and nauseatingly mushy and uses humor and everyday details to keep the book incredibly grounded and real. This book is about the epiphanies that occur within the context of our everyday lives with kids and shares an appreciation for the magic and fragility that are there every day even when we don't notice them. It also is a reminder that we really are just renting our kids for a very short window of our lives.