Half Memoir, Half Self-help
06.17.08
My newest book, OWN IT! The Ups & Downs of Homebuying for Women Who Go It Alone (Seal publishing), hits bookstores nation-wide this week. I’m both excited and a little nervous. Why?
While this book serves up “self-help” information like my first two, Own It! comes more from my personal story – half memoir, half self-help. In it, I reveal how portions of my own life have unfolded. There’s nothing too awful. But still, personal truths that moms and dads – and parents of friends or colleagues – sometimes are better off not knowing, if you know what I mean. But these truths, my vulnerabilities as much as my accomplishments – and others for me to hold dear – have made me the woman I am today…strong and independent yet vulnerable and flawed.
*ALERT: IF YOU HAVENT SEEN THE SEX & THE CITY MOVIE, DO NOT READ
Perhaps Sex & The City’s Cynthia Nixon (Miranda) sums up best what I, for one, and many young, capable women are feeling in the July 2008 Marie Claire cover story In it, Nixon says of her character:
“In the second season, when she (Miranda) was buying an apartment for the first time as a single person, she started to have these panic attacks about what it means that I’m taking this major step in life by myself. Am I going to die alone? And that was the beginning of seeing why she’s so armored and guarded.”
Yet, paradoxically, Carrie Bradshaw’s dreams seem to finally be coming true in the movie. Carrie’s knight in shining armor finally came for her, and together, they’ll live happily ever after in the home he buys for them. Sounds dreamy, right? Except, beneath her sheer excitement surfaces her frightening realization that “what’s it mean for me?” After all, without being married and her name on the deed, Carrie wouldn’t have any legal right to the home. How’s she - or any woman - supposed to ever truly feel safe, secure that the home and life she’s poured her heart and soul into could all disappear tomorrow?
While we learn how their stories unfold, we can’t predict our own futures in real life. Instead, the Sex & The City movie is a reminder to all women, young and old, that we need to invest in ourselves – even when we are invested as a couple – because we owe it to ourselves, our children and each other.
