From the biological facts at the beginning of it, that we're the ones giving birth. It is true that the demands on mothers are just different. And my son is now a thriving, happy 17-year-old. I will say they called my husband next after it became clear I was not going to answer the phone. There was a presumption that Mom is the first call. But you were put in that impossible position. So in a sense, you were feeling this guilt for not being able to be there instantaneously and respond to the urgent needs of your son. And what hit me at that time was the school had called you. And you spoke with my colleague Anthony Brooks. Because several years ago, after your first novel came out, you actually came and did an interview with WBUR. And spent five or six years out away from the newsroom writing, trying to keep my foot in the door a little bit, but choosing a very different path.ĬHAKRABARTI: You used the word choice just then, and I wanted to start with the story because I think it's an example of how women don't have a choice. Like not as a leave or sabbatical, but flat out quit. And I, on the way home from that trip, started writing what became my first book. And I do remember being up in the air and looking down and thinking, What the hell am I doing with my life? Why am I here? So maybe career Plan B is in order. And as soon as we take off, I lose signal. Where are you? We need to get him to a hospital. Like, where am I? And I think my reaction was like, lady, you know, that's not happening if you can see where I am.Īnd she started speaking more loudly and said, I don't mean to bring him home. And it is the school nurse back in Washington calling to tell me that my four-year-old is sick and can I come. And I'm about to board the helicopters and my phone rings. But even there, you're wearing full body armor and helmet and everything. And I remember landing in Baghdad, and there was a swarm of Blackhawk helicopters to take us on to the first meetings of the day. This was when my kids were four and six, and I was working as NPR's Pentagon correspondent. So, Mary Louise, I actually want to start with a story that you start with early in the book about the Blackhawk helicopter and the phone call you got. And today, we're sharing that conversation with you. So she asks herself, what would she do if she had to decide all over again? I recently sat down with Mary Louise Kelly in front of a live audience at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Year of No Do-Overs, Mary Louise faces a reckoning that there are no more years ahead, just quote, months, weeks and minutes. And until recently, she always thought she'd have time later to make good on promises to her boys.īut in her new book, It. And she's done all that while also raising two boys, one of whom is soon off to college. She's reported from Iran, North Korea, Ukraine, Pakistan and elsewhere, bringing urgent stories from around the world closer to home for listeners in the U.S. MEGHNA CHAKRABARTI: You know Mary Louise Kelly as the smart, insightful, tough co-host of NPR's All Things Considered. The Year of No Do-Overs.' Show Transcript Mary Louise Kelly, All Things Considered co-host. Today, On Point: A conversation with Mary Louise Kelly. In her new book, she looks back on the choices she made as a reporter and a mother. NPR's Mary Louise Kelly has reported from around the world. Sign up for the On Point newsletter here. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post via Getty Images) Fast.:The Year Of No Do-Overs", about motherhood work/parenting balance, photographed in her home in Washington, DC on March 12, 2023. WASHINGTON,DC-MARCH 12: Mary Louise Kelly author of the book "It.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |