About My Mother: True Stories of a Horse-Crazy Daughter and Her Baseball-Obsessed Mother: A Memoir

A Message from Mike Rowe, the Dirty Jobs Guy: Just to be clear, About My Mother is a book about my grandmother, written by my mother. Thats not to say its not about my motherit is. In fact, About My Mother is as much about my mother as it is about my grandmother. In that sense, its really a book about mothers. It is not, however, a book written by me. True, I did write the foreword. But it doesnt mean Ive written a book about my mother. I havent. Nor does it mean my mothers book is about her son. It isnt. Its about my grandmother. And my mother. Just to be clear.Mike A love letter to mothers everywhere, About My Mother will make you laugh and cryand see yourself in its reflection. Peggy Rowes story of growing up as the daughter of Thelma Knobel is filled with warmth and humor. But Thelma could be your mothertheres a Thelma in everyones life. Shes the person taking chargethe one who knows instinctively how things should be. Today, Thelma would be described as an alpha personality, but while growing up, her daughter Peggy saw her as a dictatoralbeit a benevolent, loving one. They clashed from the beginningPeggy, the horse-crazy tomboy, and Thelma, the genteel-yet-still-controlling mother, committed to raising two refined, ladylike daughters. Good luck. When major league baseball came to town in the early 1950s and turned sophisticated Thelma into a crazed Baltimore Orioles groupie, nobody was more surprised and embarrassed than Peggy. Life became a series of compromisesThelma tolerating a daughter who pitched manure and galloped the countryside, while Peggy learned to tolerate the whacky Orioles fan who threw her underwear at the television, shouted insults at umpires, and lived by the orange-and-black schedule taped to the refrigerator door. Sometimes it takes a little distance to appreciate the people we love.