A Message for My Daughter……if I had one.

 

Good Tuesday to you.

Before I begin today, I’d like to chat a little.

I know.  Yesterday’s article was long.  Very long, indeed. 

But all of Malcolm Gladwell’s books are so rich with information and so full of insight that it is hard to condense his message into a (600-or-so word) blog post.

Sad-to-say, I just couldn’t stop typing yesterday…

I promise to send a shorter and quicker read today!  I know you’re busy.

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The Daughter I Never Had

If you have read my blog since its inception, you fully realize that I love being a mom – for my two sons.

In my heart, I always knew that I would probably be a better ‘boy’ mom.

Why?

I really can’t say.  But it could stem from the fact that I loved sports at an early age.

Around age 8, I developed a love for NBA basketball.  Don’t ask me how or why.

I memorized the stats of my favorite players on the LA Lakers.

Wrote fan letters simply addressed to:  The Forum, Los Angeles, California.

And for a birthday present, I received my very own subscription of Sports Illustrated magazine.

But on the flipside, I trained to be a professional dancer.

I began ballet at age 3.

Lived in a dormitory my last two years in high school to concentrate on ballet.

So when I became pregnant with my first child, every person who knew me way-back-when said something like this, “You are finally going to get your little ballerina.”

It goes without saying, I did not – in fact – get a tiny dancing daughter.

As a mom, I bought cleats and spikes.  Not ballet slippers and pointe shoes.

God graciously sent me two baseball players.

And that was just fine by me.

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But you know what?

Hundreds, if not thousands of times in my life, I have muttered to myself:  If I had a daughter, I would tell her… this or that.

So, I decided to tell YOU some of the life advice I have wanted to share for years….so you may tell your own daughter, if you feel it is worthy information.

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For the newest readers of My Written Thoughts…

please know that my blog is not a book review website. 

It just so happens that this week, I am highlighting some of my favorite books for my life advice messages.

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Two Women.

Two different Political Affiliations.

Two Corporate Giants.

Two extremely smart role models for young women.

And they are…….

Carly Fiorina (former President and CEO of Hewlett-Packard)

 and

Sheryl Sandberg ( Chief Operating Officer of Facebook)

 I would definitely introduce these women’s stories to my high school and college-aged daughters.

You are probably very familiar with the recent news surrounding their lives….

The untimely, shocking, and devastating passing of Sandberg’s husband, David Goldberg, last month.

And Carly Fiorina’s announcement  – a few weeks ago – as a 2016 presidential candidate.

Over the years, the relentless scrutiny and criticism of both women’s personal and professional lives have kept them consistently in the news media.

In the next 2 days, I will provide you with ‘SparksNotes-esque’ posts highlighting Lean In and Tough Choices.

This way, you can decide if these two biographies would be suitable for your daughter’s personal library.

(Or, perhaps, a graduation gift for a dear friend’s daughter? A niece? Your granddaughter?)

       

I annotated, dog-eared, and highlighted so many pages, I bought a fresh, clean copy for my personal library.

You think – I thought that page on the right was really important! Double-Dog-eared.

 This book was so intense and so well-written that I knew I would read and re-read the book in its entirety…so no need to highlight.

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For the readers who read last week’s post written for parents of competitive athletes and young men….I promised to write a post dedicated to daughters.

And now, I am doing just that.

Come back – ready to read tomorrow.