All That Matters: A Mother's Memories

by Janis Hogan

Overview

All That Matters: A Mother's Memories, by Janis Hogan, is a fresh look at the joy and sorrow of relationships as they change over time, particularly with our parents, siblings, spouses, and children. Filled with stories that will cause laughter and tears, this book will remind readers of their own lives.

"For more than twenty years," writes Janis Hogan, "I have chronicled my life and my children's lives with my stories. It helps keep the memories alive and close, reminding me of the value in every moment. There are thousands of moments I wish I could relive. Just as many I wish I could unlive. The moments I tried to preserve in my stories are those that taught me something, gleaming treasures that I may have passed right over when they occurred, but that glowed and sparkled with meaning when I rediscovered them." All That Matters is a collection of Janis Hogan's stories. In these pages you will find reasons to laugh and reasons to cry, poignant memories and embarrassing moments, exciting discoveries and devastating disappointments, momentous decisions and small breakthroughs, happy endings and new beginnings. Each story in this moving collection tells of a moment captured in time, from sitting at the kitchen table in her parents' house watching their evening ritual of greeting each other with a kiss to watching her own son kiss his girlfriend goodbye when he no longer wants his mother to kiss him in public; from complaining about her parents dancing to horrible old songs in the living room to happily dancing through the night cradling her colicky firstborn as he fitfully sleeps. The author writes with a rare grace and wit that is pleasing to the ear when read aloud and pleasing to the soul when read silently. She is first a mother, so the stories are often about motherhood, but All That Matters as a whole is more than that. Ultimately it is about changing relationships—relationships with our parents, our siblings, our life partners, and yes, our children.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630262709
Publisher:	TURNER PUB CO
Publication date:	03/01/2000
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Prologue	8
Introduction: Memory's Sweet Surrender	9
Author's Note: About the Chairs	13
Part One	15
Dancing in the Dark	17
The Legacy	23
Buried Treasure	29
The Son Also Rises	33
Career Counselors	35
Everlasting Love	39
Colliding in Place	45
Table for Three	49
New Plans for an Old Holiday	53
Wheels	57
The Date	59
Space Invaders	65
Is There Any Place Like Home?	69
Part Two	73
One Wrong Turn Can Lead to Nebraska	75
Playing the Jack of Hearts	79
Cobwebs and Other Hazards of Self-Employment	83
Political Learnings	87
A Place to Hide	91
Nightmare in the Making	95
By the Book	99
Two Outs with the Bases Loaded	103
Sense and Sensitivity	107
Time Travel: When My Past Meets My Present	111
Fairy Tales	115
Part Three	119
When the Dragons Wouldn't Die	121
Growing Pains	123
Balancing Lessons	127
Folding Time	133
Change of Hearts	135
Out of My League	139
Marissa's Magic	143
Mattie's Quilt Goes Home	147
No Small Measure	151
The Father I Remember	155
The Harry Chronicles	159
Daddy's Home	163
Sweet Dreams	169
Out of the Blue	173
Epilogue	175

Editorial Reviews

". . . rich in feeling, its author adept at plumbing the complexities of a woman's experience in the second half of the 20th century." — STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE

"Each short story captures ordinary situations in family life that moment by moment affect our relationships as family." — Voices

"Filled with heartbreaking moments and tender memories, it is a testament to leaving behind past regrets and looking forward to fresh beginnings." --The Sanford Herald

"For business-woman Janis Hogan, it took a mix of passion, ability, elbow grease and intution to get memories of her family and experiences into print." -- Waterbury Republican-American

From the Publisher