Mama Love

Katrina's beautiful, funny, irreverent, magnetic Mom.

It is her birthday today, my Mama. And also, Elvis’s. I always have to do the math. Mom had me when she was 30… I am 43… that makes her 73 today. 73 years is a long time to be loved unconditionally, and yet my Mom has always been up to the task. We may […]

Missing the Heart of Home

Katrina with Mary Claire and Her Mom

I remember this feeling from summers spent at CYO Camp Rancho Framasa. Lying in my sleeping bag at night, sweating, scratching mosquito bites on my legs, peeling the sunburn from my nose, and feeling the little, nagging ball of pain in the corner of my stomach. Homesick. Camp days were filled to overflowing with crafts […]

The Whole Truth

Mary Claire and Her Nana

My mom is reading “Table for Six” for the first time. She didn’t want to read an advance copy, said she trusted me, said she’d wait. I gave her a hard copy on Sunday and have been fretting ever since. It’s not that I said anything derogatory about her. It’s just that memories are so… […]