Kelly Corrigan

I’ve not yet told you about one of my favorite authors — Kelly Corrigan.  

The Huffington Post said it best  ~~ “Kelly Corrigan is the Poet Laureate of the Ordinary.”

I’ve read (nay, fallen in love with) her essays and memoirs.  Her writing is brilliantly insightful about parenting, human nature, and the importance of human connection.  Ms. Corrigan can find the good and the funny in almost everything – including her own bout with cancer.  She writes about love in all its forms, the messy-ness of life, tragedy of loss, her failed self-improvement plans, and reflects often on the power of the words you speak — the idea that the things we say matter, and that our words have both the power to crush a soul but also can comfort, empower and inspire.

Here’s one of my favorite Corrigan quotes:

That’s how it works: someone important believes in us, loudly and with conviction and against all substantiation, and over time, we begin to believe, too—not in our shot at perfection, mind you, but in the good enough version of us that they have reflected.

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You may have heard of Ms. Corrigan from her relatively new PBS show “Tell me More”.

There are new episodes of Tell me More coming in October but until then you can watch the older ones HERE. She’s a relatable, natural interviewer and you can feel her subjects relaxing into a nice long safe chat with her.

However, the reason for this post, other than to encourage you to find her books, is to recommend watching her recent commencement speech which a good friend shared with me. If, after watching this, you’re not choked up, you’re made of tougher stuff than I.

HERE is the commencement speech.

And because I’m sure you’ll need more of her HERE is a compilation of her speaking events.

So, if you’re like me, there are times you just need someone normal, natural, real and very, very funny – please turn to Ms. Corrigan.