Climbing Down the Ladder: A Journey to a Different Kind of Happy by Laura Black: Owings Mills, Maryland: Cazco Press © 2022; ISBN 9798987-012109; 213 pages; $28.99.
SAN DIEGO –This book is billed as one for women, but in fact the issues it discusses apply equally to the genders. In her memoir, Laura Black tells of her struggles with weight and her recognition that because of it, her parents were embarrassed by her. To demonstrate her worth, she threw herself first into business and secondly into the law, eventually combining the two to create an agency to supply lawyers on a temporary basis to law firms that were crushed with work. Her career won her recognition and plaudits, but did not erase her negative self-image.
She also had a divorce and a new marriage to contend with along with guilt feelings about often putting the demands of her job ahead of being there for her children. Nannies often filled in for her, but she knew that, for her children, that simply was not the same.
Eventually, Laura retired and she wondered how to give her life meaning, now that her successful career was behind her. She volunteered for Jewish organizations as well as those for the larger community, but that did not provide her with deep satisfaction.
While recuperating from an illness, she came to a realization: “I had focused too much on producing and not enough on being.”
With that in mind, she spent more time with her family, finding joy in the little and large events that are the metronomes of our life songs. She made friends with her children-in-law, relished time with her parents, children, and grandchildren, who lived in different parts of the country, and took some writing courses.
The result was this fast-moving, introspective memoir.
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Donald H. Harrison is editor emeritus of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com