Letters to My Daughters

In Letters to My Daughters famed political consultant and TV personality Mary Matalin shares the moral ethical and occasionally comic life lessons gleaned from her mothers experiences and her own. These intimate personal letters range from the spiritual to the practical from giving life to accepting death from civic to personal responsibility from looking and feeling good to dealing with those pesky boys and more. Heres a sampling of the mother wisdom found in these pages: . Crying is not a weakness; its cathartic and cleansing. People who live life with the fullest commitment tend to cry a lot. Its a healthy expression of deep emotions. I dont like or trust people who dont or cant cry. When I tell you I understand what youre going through its not just because I remember what it felt like to be a teenage girl whose body is being hijacked by hormones against her will. Its because Im a fifty-something whose body is being hijacked by hormones against her will at this very moment. And if you dont believe me just ask your father. I believe in my heart of hearts that a life without faith is unanchored and unfulfilling. Without it youre just wandering in the desert. You experience deeply that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts -- and the singing is damn good. Ma had a complex philosophy of sex which I heard almost every day from age ten. Boys would screw a snake if it would lay still long enough. Lets flash forward forty years and allow your mother to give you a twenty-first-century take on boys and S-E-X: Boys would screw a snake if it would lay still long enough....And the men in Washington think thats a compliment. A deep sense of loyalty can help you overcome almost any bump in the road. The disloyal may advantage themselves in some work situations but their gains will be temporary fleeting. They will fail their institutions their colleagues and worst of all themselves. . Filled with warmth common sense a belief in the values that keep families strong and her trademark sense of humor Mary Matalins letters will inspire guide entertain and inform. Theyre the perfect companion for any mother looking for a smart sensible fellow traveler on the road to raising good daughters.