Everyday Matters: A Love Story

This is the story of a life that has spanned much of the twentieth century. It is the story of a long and happy marriage, of advances in women's rights, of forging a career as a writer (including the excitement of a big Hollywood sale), of the sometimes bewildering pace of progress, and of raising a family in a rapidly changing world. With her wit, insightful storytelling, and keen ear for offbeat anecdotes, Nardi Reeder Campion speaks for a generation that has traveled from the roaring twenties into the twenty-first century.

"We were before pantyhose, penicillin, and the pill . . . "

Campion's address to a reunion of her Wellesley College class of 1938 has earned her a niche in cyberspace. Endlessly circulated via e-mail and even featured in the Ann Landers columns, it combines Campion's charm, wisdom, and self-deprecating humor. She has now written a memoir distinguished by those same qualities.

"In our day, we got married first and then lived together. How quaint can you be?"

Campion's memoir is, in part, the story of a long and loving marriage, one that lasted fifty-nine years and "survived four jobs, seven books, nine homes, and nineteen pets (not counting gerbils)." Whether she is describing the joys of marriage to a fun-loving husband or the pain of her son's emotional breakdown, the (sometimes mixed) blessings of grandchildren or the difficult decision to move into a retirement home, Campion's deft mix of humor and candor yields an appealing and engaging narrative. Always seeking to discover what is worthwhile, she writes movingly about love and about death.

NARDI REEDER CAMPION is the author of Over the Hill, You Pick Up Speed: Reflections on Aging (For Anyone Who Happens To) (UPNE, 2006) and of seven other books, including Bringing Up the Brass by Sergeant Marty Maher (the basis for the John Ford movie The Long Gray Line) and Mother Ann Lee, Morning Star of the Shakers (reissued by UPNE, 1990). She has written articles for the New York Times (including ten op-ed pieces), the Boston Globe, Reader's Digest, the Chicago Tribune, The New Yorker, Yankee, and other publications. Her column, "Everyday Matters," has appeared in the Valley News (NH) for twenty-five years.