Books like Around the Next Corner

A nice lil novel about a woman approaching 50 who has two teenagers and one kid in college and a husband who works an awful lot. Deena has been a stay at home mom/wife her whole adult life and is now experiencing some life-crisis. So she decides to take in a puppy and train it for the first year for a program called K-9 Eyes for the Blind. The novel is about rediscovering yourself and maybe a reminder to the reader to try and not lose yourself in the first place. One passage from the novel really jumped out at me: (scene: Deena has decided to fly out of town sans kids/hubby to visit an old college friend. They're talking in her friend's kitchen the night of her arrival. Deena starts talking about what it's like having Heloise, the puppy she's training for K-9 eyes.) "Since I've had Heloise I've felt what it's like to be out there again." "What do you mean? Like, out of the house?" "More than that. People - strangers - look me in the eye, talk to me, because I have this adorable dog in a green jacket who's going to be this really vital partner to someone one day. So it's the dog they look at, but then they look at me, like I'm something. Someone." My voice cracked and Elaine gently took my hand. "I guess because they know I'll have to give her up, or because they think I know what I'm doing -- I don't know." I took a deep breath and looked at my friend, my voice strong now. "I don't think I've ever really experienced this before. This visibility and...respect. I have to say, as hard as raising her has been, and it's been a lot more work than I thought it would be, being a full-time mother is a hell of a lot harder. But rarely does anyone look at a mother with that kind of respect and awe." ... "Elaine, I've had to learn so much since my kids were born -- it's like the most intense college. YOu have to learn about behavior, psychology, physiology, medicine, logistical planning, engineering, nutrition, brain development - shit! Everything! But we don't graduate to anything. No one ever hands you a diploma. no marching across a stage somewhere with a go-get-'em song playing. In fact, it's the opposite. It's like the elevator music that's been in the background the past twenty years of your life just kind of fades out, and you look up, and everyone's gone." ...."Heloise I will have loved and cared for and taught and learned from for a year, year and a half, by the time she's recalled. You do that with your kids for eighteen years."...."I wish I had a dollar for every time a complete stranger has stoped me, looked at Heloise, and asked, 'How are you ever going to give her up?' I doubt any of those people would ever stop and ask a mother that."