Review: Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan

Glitter and Glue by Kelly Corrigan: Kelly Corrigan, recently graduated from college, wants nothing more than to get out and explore the world. In her mind, everything good happens outside the home - you are not really living unless you are out there doing things - or anything, really. Her practical, cautious mother advises her to work hard and save but Kelly has other plans - she wants to travel. So against her mother's advice (any maybe just a little because of it) she heads off with her friend Tracey to travel the world. When funds run low, however, she ends up as a nanny in Australia for a family with two young children whose mother has recently passed away from cancer. Before she knows it, she is living a life oddly parallel to her mother's and gaining new insight into her Mom and what makes her tick.

Practical, efficient Mary Corrigan would tell Kelly and her two brothers growing up, "Your Father is the glitter and I am the glue". Mary kept the family home running and doled out the discipline while her husband breezed in with jokes and a lighthearted sensibility. Kelly had a special relationship with her Dad but always felt that her mother didn't necessarily understand her and she bristled against the no nonsense approach her Mom took to parenting. The difference between her Mom and Dad can be seen right in the beginning of the book as they accompanied Kelly and Tracey to the airport - her father was enthusiastic about the adventures which awaited the girls while her mother barely concealed her misgivings about this trip and coolly warned her daughter to be safe.

When Kelly meets the Tanners and contemplates all these young children have lost with the recent death of their mother, she begins to value her own mother and counts herself lucky to have benefited from her guidance and discipline - even if it was practical and much more like glue than glitter.  Playing mother on a daily basis to the Tanner children, Kelly began to see the sense in how her mother approached the daily tasks of motherhood. Many women begin to understand their own mothers better as they become mothers themselves - Kelly got a head start on that as a nanny.

My Thoughts
I LOVED this book  - so much of it resonated for me and I saw my own mother in Mary Corrigan. My Mom is practical and unsentimental and that has been a point of contention between us at times. Like Kelly, however, I have learned to value and understand my Mom's practicality and realize that it kept things running smoothly in our home - there wasn't much time or room for frivolity. I attended an event in NYC where Kelly did a reading (you can see a YouTube video of the reading here) and took questions. At one point, she said her Mom didn't show love so much with words or hugs but by serving - taking care of her children and doing for them. My Mom is much the same - she shows her care and concern by doing.

My Mom and Me - Alaska, 2013

Kelly articulates her perspective on her Mom with wit and grace so that this book is a real tribute to Mary Corrigan but still immensely readable and relevant. I have already purchased copies of the book for my Mom and many friends!