The great putter-upperer and, nowadays, fixer-upperer, Paul. Your patience, smarts, talent, and love have helped mother this book through a very long journey!
My four unique and wonderful sisters, with special thanks to Viv for your eagle eyes and insight in reading this manuscript. Sandy, my beloved big brother and Stacey, welcome to the family.
Barbara Fagan of SourcePoint Training, for your brilliance about being, and for your mentorship, love, and support over twelve years. You’re a role model, an inspiration, and a treasured friend.
Lou Dozier of SourcePoint Training and Lynn Pollard and David Gilcrease of ResourceRealizations. I cannot imagine more effective and powerful training in the field of relationships than what you’ve lovingly created.
Cami McClaren, I’m grateful to have you in my life as a friend and colleague. Your willingness to challenge me has been invaluable.
Carole Watson, for your support, wise counsel, and for tracking me down all the way in France.
A big köszönöm to Violet Mess and her six A.M. boot-camp gang, for pushing me further than I ever thought I could go. You guys rock.
Denise Perez—we’ve laughed, cried, scolded, and loved each other through an amazing transition. We’ve watched so many sunrises and sunsets on the beach together that if you were a guy I’d marry you.
Mia would also like to thank:
Dad, I’m so grateful for this extra time we’ve had together. You are and always will be my hero, my best friend, and my rock.
Bubbie, I love you for your sense of humor, your compassion, your bravery, the poppy-seed pastries you’ve baked, and the blankets you’ve knitted me since birth.
Grandmaude and Grandpa, you gave me childhood memories that I cherish, and I love that every visit is somehow more fun than the last.
Richard, for your nourishment and support, for bringing Florida to life, and for keeping me laughing throughout.
Soraya, for being my steadfast guide and anchor. You’re the kind of true-blue friend we happen upon so rarely.
Nina, for your ongoing friendship and support. The humanitarian work you’ve done over the years has been such an inspiration.
Guenn and Alanna, for being the best roomies a New York newcomer could ever want.
Peter, thank you for showing me the city and the countryside that I never saw, and returning me to a place that changed my life.
To the RYLA crew and the Nelson clan, thank you for creating weekends that I look forward to year after year. Sean Nelson, you’re truly inimitable, and your dedication and passion for youth continuously amaze me.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
CLAIRE FONTAINE and MIA FONTAINE are the coauthors of the bestselling memoir Come Back: A Mother and Daughter’s Journey Through Hell and Back.
A former screenwriter, Claire divides her time between the United States and Europe, where she is researching a historical novel and doing a comparative analysis of les éclairs au chocolat de Paris. She is also a certified relationship coach and a certified life coach.
A popular motivational speaker, Mia has written for the New York Times, blogs for Ms. Magazine, and is currently at work on a narrative nonfiction book that combines four of her greatest interests: travel, human behavior, history, and culture. She lives in New York City.
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ALSO BY CLAIRE AND MIA FONTAINE
Come Back: A Mother and Daughter’s Journey Through Hell and Back
CREDITS
Cover design by Mary Schuck
Cover photograph © by JFCreative/Getty Images
COPYRIGHT
Claire and Mia Fontaine continue to write under pen names for reasons related to their first memoir. A few people’s names in this book have been changed to protect their privacy. Most everyone, however, is referred to by their real names, and all the events, even the most embarrassing ones, are true.
HAVE MOTHER, WILL TRAVEL. Copyright © 2012 by Claire Fontaine and Mia Fontaine. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-168839-3
Epub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780062109637
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FOOTNOTES
* A little trinket or ornament, bric-a-brac.
* Yiddishized version of “greenhorns,” meaning a newcomer from the Old Country.
* Fuck your mother.
* Grammar.
*Think they. In France, almost anything will do for a “th,” the letters f, v, s, or z.