5-1/2 x 8-1/2
224 Pages
Hardcover
This Is Not the Life I Ordered is for anyone who has ever felt overworked, overwhelmed, or just plain unlucky (and, who hasn't!). Through this collection of stories, wisdom, and practical advice, readers will meet four ordinary women who have faced extraordinary life challenges. Together, they have a history of six marriages, ten children, four stepchildren, six dogs, two miscarriages, two cats, a failed adoption, and foster parenthood. One of them was shot and left for dead on a tarmac in South America and two have lived through the death of their spouses.
This book started simply with four friends getting together for "kitchen table coaching sessions" to talk about their lives. Week by week and story by story, they realized their great advice to each other could help other women struggling with life's myriad issues of work, family, and love, as well as the big questions of life and death. For over a decade, the power and strength of their collective friendship enabled these women not only to survive but to thrive.
Each section of the book concludes with suggested action plans and exercises that the authors refer to as the WIT (Women in Transition) Kit. They realize women are busy, running from the moment their feet hit the bedroom floor, but what they have found is that by taking the time to follow up on the recommendations in the Wit Kit has made a world of difference in the quality of their lives, and that of their loved ones.
Whether trying to recover from overwhelming hardship or to celebrate a triumph, readers will find four amazing women to share hope and inspiration with through the true stories in This Is Not the Life I Ordered. This is a book for women of all ages.
November 2006
"I wish I had this book thirty years ago. What a welcome source of inspiration and insight."
-- Linda Ellerbee, journalist, award-winning television producer, best-selling author, breast cancer survivor, and mom.
"Even before you hear their stories, you feel their strength. When these four women came into my office, I knew I wanted to be a part of their mission. Readers will find themselves engulfed (in a good way) by their spirit."
--Gerry Laybourne, co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Oxygen Media
"Kudos to the amazing strength of these women!? This book is the needed inspiration to survive the worst luck and circumstances that catch women unexpectedly. Stories of almost unimaginable pain and tragedy: the death of loved ones, being witness to mass murder, the loss of an esteemed job after years of loyalty, and the reversal of fortunes. But more importantly, these are stories of individual strength to transform shock, despair, and paralysis into sheer will and guts. It contains the innate resources we have to climb out of the abyss and into a new life with unexpected happiness. "
--Amy Tan, best-selling author of The Joy Luck Club
"In World War II, the brave young men who fought and sacrificed became a "Band of Brothers." In reading this marvelous book that chronicles the stories of courageous and enterprising women who overcame hardships I realize more and more that we are indeed a "Society of Sisters." A must read for all women and the men who love them."
--Rita Moreno, Actor and Winner of the Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Presidential Medal of Freedom
