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When I Married My Mother

A Daughter's Search for What Really Matters - and How She Found It Caring for Mama Jo

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When I Married My Mother

By: Jo Maeder
Narrated by: Jo Maeder
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About this listen

A city-loving, single New York DJ braces for disaster when she reluctantly moves to the Bible Belt to care for her estranged, doll-obsessed, hoarder mother. What unfolds in this best-selling memoir is a hilarious, heartbreaking love story that sees eldercare and making peace with the past in a most unexpected way.

"This book is important to every mother and daughter, and to every woman who wants to be one." (Maya Angelou)

©2009, 2014 Jo Maeder (P)2016 Jo Maeder Aging Parent Parenting & Families Relationships Women Funny Witty

Critic reviews

"Hilarious, poignant, and utterly relevant to all of us facing adulthood with aging parents. Jo Maeder perfectly nails the unique combination of love and frustration that so many of us have felt. And her mother!! Mama Jo is a character I won't soon forget. I adored this book." (Hope Edelman)

“Who knew aging, memory-impaired mothers could surprise their reluctantly dutiful daughters? Jo’s counter-intuitive take on caring for Mama Jo speaks to the resilience in late-life family care relationships. As author and memoirist, Jo delighted participants at Duke’s Alzheimer’s conference by encouraging them to seek fresh, positive, and personal perspectives on caring.” (Lisa P. Gwyhter, MSW, co-author The Alzheimer’s Action Plan: A Family Guide, Director of Duke Aging Center Family Support Program)
"A humorous and always touching account of how Maeder went from dreading caring for 'Mama Jo' to cherishing every minute with her. This generous gift of a book explores the mystery of how doing the right thing can, in the end, become infinitely more." (Tommy Hays)
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I nearly stopped listening but stuck with it and ended up getting very attached to Momma jo and cried near the end. I found the Momma jo being used all the way through and the narrator’s impersonating her mother grated on me a little bit an insightful book about a mother daughter relationship in their latter years.

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