On a rainy morning in early 2003, Nia Vardalos found out that she had been nominated for an Oscar for writing the sceenplay for "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding". But her mind was not on champagne and celebratory cheer. Instead, she was alone, en route to a fertility clinic, trying yet again for another chance at motherhood. In her attempts to make a baby, Vardalos tried everything from drinking daily jugs of green-mud-tea to voodoo-doll-like acupuncture, to working with two surrogates. All the while she was trying to advance her film career, writing films while dodging questions from family, friends, and Hollywood reporters who continually asked Where's the baby? She decided to try adoption and discovered Foster Family Agencies, meeting social workers and eventually getting paired up with a three year old girl with blonde streaks in her hair who she knew, instantly, was her daughter. With her signature wit and candor, in "Instant Mom" Vardalos opens up about what came next - the heartaches and smiles, tears and laughter that all make up what it means to be a parent.
Filled with stories about Vardalos' life in the Hollywood scene - she counts Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and Sean Hayes as friends - and her unique take on the tough but often hilarious moments that make up motherhood, "Instant Mom" is about how stubborn optimism can work in one's favor, and how it was this very optimism that brought Nia to her daughter against all of the odds.
Nia Vardalos is one of my favorite actresses and hearing about how she became a mom was absolutely fascinating.
This is something a lot of people keep quite about especially celebrities. I did end up listening to this one while I was writing a paper about adoption for school, so it was especially fascinating for me to see the journey Nia and her husband went on through the different ways to have children and how they came to accept adoptions is what they were meant to do.
I really hope Nia writes another book, because I loved her writing style and how she kept things light while also dealing with a very serious topic. She was able to make it personal without sharing too many personal details that could make her daughter uncomfortable later in life.
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20 February, 2018:
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20 February, 2018:
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