All That Matters: A Mother’s Memories Janis Hogan

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.