It. Goes. So. Fast.: The Year of No Do-Overs
Family Action Network in-person event
Mary Louise Kelly, journalist, novelist and co-host of NPR’s All Things Considered will present
New Trier High School Cornog Auditorium, 7 Happ Rd. Northfield
This event is suitable for youth 12+.
Ever since she became a parent, Mary Louise Kelly has said “next year.” Next year will be the year she makes it to her son James’s soccer games (which are on weekdays at 4 p.m., right when she is on the air on NPR’s All Things Considered, talking to millions of listeners). Drive carpool for her son Alexander? Not if she wants to do that story about Ukraine and interview the secretary of state. Like millions of parents who wrestle with raising children while pursuing a career, she has never been cavalier about these decisions. James and Alexander are now seventeen and fifteen, and a realization has overtaken Kelly: her older son will be leaving soon for college. There used to be years to make good on her promises; now, there are
months, weeks, minutes. And with the devastating death of her beloved father as well as a surprising turn in her marriage, she is coming to grips with the reality every parent faces: Childhood has a definite expiration date. You have only so many years with your kids before they leave your house to build their own lives.
It. Goes. So. Fast.: The Year of No Do-Overs, a chronicle of Kelly’s eldest child’s final year at home, of losing her father, as well as other curve balls thrown at her, is not a definitive answer―not for herself and certainly not for any other parent. But her questions, her issues, will resonate with every parent, especially with mothers, who are judged more harshly by society and, more important, judge themselves more harshly.
Ms. Kelly has been reporting for NPR for nearly two decades and is now co-host of All Things Considered. She will be in conversation with Heidi Stevens, Director of External Affairs for the University of Chicago’s TMW Center for Early Learning + Public Health.
The event will be recorded but not live streamed. The video will be available on FAN’s website and YouTube channel.