2023-04-19
Paschal presents a guide to a flexible, lighthearted approach to parenting, business, and everyday life.
The author centers her nonfiction debut around lessons she’s learned from more than four decades of being married to her high school sweetheart, Steve, and the experiences they’ve had while raising their two boys, Hayden and William. The key to these lessons is a rhetorical gambit that Paschal employs throughout the book: “Insert giggle giggle,” her repeated reminder to her readers to remember and enjoy life’s sillier times. She’s aware that life isn’t always pleasant, but she asserts that maintaining a certain frame of mind can make a big difference: “Each of our lives is full of tense and solemn moments that sometimes, with the advantage of time passing, we can look back on and realize they actually weren’t as dramatic as we thought,” she writes. She grounds this contention in a serialized memoir, as she shares with readers many stories from her life with Steve and their children, including such upheavals as when they were uprooted from Houston, where Steve had worked for an international bank, and moved to Atlanta, where the author and her spouse took a chance on opening a daycare center. Paschal effectively asserts that trying to maintain a happier, more optimistic mindset through difficult events, both personal and professional, makes them more bearable and often more fruitful. And she practices what she preaches, as the tone of her book is entirely winning and upbeat throughout. That said, there are some sweeping assertions in this motivational work that some readers will disagree with, such as “No matter the situation, there is always someone who would trade places with you, gladly,” and “Nothing—no experience, either good or bad—is ever a waste.” Still, they’ll likely smile more than they’ll frown at this book’s cheerfulness.
A friendly, if somewhat pat, call to allow whimsy to help one get through trying times.