Those were the words Elizabeth Edwards used to describe the difference between her career path and that of Senator Hilary Clinton. I had the pleasure of meeting Elizabeth as part of the publicity tour for her newly released book, Saving Grace: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers. I was invited to participate by the gals over at the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, hereby referred to as the SV Moms, along with Stefania Pomponi Butler of CityMama, Mary Tsao of Mom Writes. Stefania and Mary both have excellent thoughts on the session and the book, so check them out. Enoch Choi, the dad-voice of the SV Moms, liveblogged the meeting and snapped some great photos.
I will first admit that I have not read Saving Grace. By the time I found out about our session with Elizabeth, the hubs was on a business trip and there was no possible way I would be able to find time to do one of my marathon book-reading sessions. So I went into the meeting cold, only armed with my thoughts on Elizabeth based on memories from her husband, John, and his vice-presidential bid. I knew about the loss of their son back in 1996, and her recent battle with breast cancer. I expected her to be charming and positive, as any person would be on a publicity tour. What I didn't expect was for to be so real. As in, she sat there with us and we talked about the blogworld and community, she would sometimes rest her face in her hands in a way that said, "Ladies, I'm tired. And I'm not afraid for you to know it." It was less about her touting her book and all about making connections with her readers. This wasn't spin. She was real.
We talked blogging. We talked politics. We talked parenting. We talked and talked and talked. And in the end, when it was time for her to go, I think all of us were left hanging. As in, "Really? Do you have to go? Because we want you to come have drinks with us..." You can bet I'll be picking up a copy of her book since she feels like our new best friend. The other residual effect of meeting Elizabeth is that in talking about John's potential run for president in 2008, I got excited about politics. That, in and of itself, is a victory.
Someone asked about the parallels between her life and that of Hilary Clinton . Elizabeth described how their life paths were nearly identical yet they both made drastically different choices for their careers. As Elizabeth said of her decision to stay at home with her kids, "I chose giggles and mud."
That line has stuck with me - I'm not sure why. Perhaps because so many moms and dads have to explain their decision to be home with their children. Or be a work from home parent to maximize kid time. And Elizabeth's response is so simple, yet so true. Giggles and mud.
