“Heartening and wickedly funny.” Benjamin Cheever

About When I Married My Mother

Mama Jo's eccentric behavior had long been a source of frustration. Now with her increasing dementia added to the already volatile mix, it looked like Operation Mama Jo could well be a disaster. My therapist suspected I had Rescuer's Syndrome--and my mother could not be rescued. My friends staged an intervention. Even Mama Jo wasn’t sure it would work.

Daughter Jo reasoned that, at the very least, my mom's uninhabitable house would be cleared out (as soon as I figured out how to do that without my mother's cooperation). And maybe, just maybe, I'd solve a few of my own problems, like my uncanny ability to be attracted to men just like Mama Jo.

My roller-coaster ride with my unforgettable mother and her massive doll collection, my born-again brother, the laid-back South, and first-time home ownership--plus a few drag queens along the way--proved to be a magical, hilarious and, at times, heartbreaking antidote to heal a long-fractured family. As I go around the country talking about this book, I'm happy to see that it's resonating with people of all ages, and not just those in caregiving situations. I hope you enjoy it, too. Shoot me an email when you're done and let me know what you think!