Katie Russell Newland - A Season with Mom: Love, Loss, and the Ultimate Baseball Adventure

A Season with Mom

Copyright 2021 by Katie Russell Newland

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or otherexcept for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by Harper Horizon, an imprint of HarperCollins Focus LLC.

Any internet addresses, phone numbers, or company or product information printed in this book are offered as a resource and are not intended in any way to be or to imply an endorsement by Harper Horizon, nor does Harper Horizon vouch for the existence, content, or services of these sites, phone numbers, companies, or products beyond the life of this book.

All photographs courtesy of the author and used with permission.

ISBN 978-0-7852-3889-8 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-3888-1 (HC)

Epub Edition February 2021 9780785238898

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020942460

Printed in the United States of America

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To those who love the game.

To those who have lost...

a parent.

their way.

hope.

To those on a healing journey looking to find...

themselves.

their purpose.

love.

To cancer survivors.

To dreamers.

To moms.

Especially the mom who loved me.

This book is for you.

Contents

DEAR READER.

Congratulations on picking up this book of letters. Personally, I am a huge fan of letter writing. My mom always encouraged me and my brothers to send thank-you notes. Handwritten, of course!

Over the years, Ive written countless letters. To children and adults facing illness, injury, or any personal hardship, I have shared words of encouragement and support. To former teammates and opponents, I have sent notes congratulating them on a great career. To those who lost a loved one, I have written to express my sympathy and let them know they are in my prayers.

And to family, friends, and fans, I have written to simply say, Thank you.

Once I became a father, I began writing notes to my kids about the memories we were makingeven before they were old enough to read them.

You might be wondering, Why all of the letters?

Let me tell you why.

Letters strengthen relationships. They are personaloften emotionaland can take the tone of congratulations, consolation, or gratitude. Unlike a quick text or email, handwritten letters take more time and effort. They leave a lasting impression on the recipient.

Letters have staying power. Think about a time you received a note from someone important in your life. If youre like me, you have a few of these stashed in the back of a drawer for safekeeping.

And one more thing Ive learned about letters: the act of writing a letter can be as therapeutic for the writer as reading the letter is meaningful to the recipient. Whether we are on the giving or receiving end, letters can help all of us through the changing seasons of our lives.

In 2012, when I learned about my friend Katies cancer diagnosis, I wrote her a letter. We have known each other from our earliest days and grew up as neighbors in New Orleans. I played many hours of football in the yard of her familys home on Seventh Street, with her brothers and mine. We went to high school together, where we both wore the white and kelly green of Isidore Newman School and proudly captained our respective athletic teams. On the same Michael Lupin Field where I played high school football, Katie earned MVP awards in soccer and softball.

Katie always had a fierce, competitive spirit, so I knew cancer didnt stand a chance. I wasnt surprised one bit when I learned she beat the disease. Nor was I surprised that she came out of that fight with the determination to live out her dream to see every baseball stadium to honor her mom, who had passed from cancer several years earlier. When Katie sets out to do something, you can count on it.

And you can count on this book.

You likely opened these pages because youre a baseball fan or you were in search of the perfect gift for your mom. Good call, because this is a compelling story with Americas pastime as the backdrop and an excellent gift.

You should know, though, youre going to get a lot more than that from A Season with Mom.

Youre going to get a front-row seat to Katies baseball stadium tour, as well as the intimate details of her cancer journey and a mother-daughter relationship. This insight will hit home for anyone who is a daughter, a son, a mother, or a father.

Youre also going to get inspired. Maybe youve been putting your own dreams on hold. Maybe youre recovering from your own illness. Maybe you have lost someone you care about and are wondering how to stay connected.

After reading this book, youll be eager to imagine your own amazing next season. What might it look like to follow through on your childhood dream? What could a note written today look like to your mom or dad, grandmother or grandfather, living or passed from this world? How good would it feel to send someone encouragement or let them know how grateful you really are?

A Season with Mom reignited a flame within me to never stop writing to people. I believe it will spark something inside you as well.

SINCERELY,

PEYTON

I never really understood my mom. Her Cajun, New Orleanian mumble made it hard to understand her much of the time, yes, but thats not exactly what I mean. I never knew who my mom was. Her focus seemed to be on the people around her, preferring to listen rather than talk about herself. She would help a stranger before taking care of her own needs, and she chose to focus on the positive instead of burdening anyone with her reality. In constantly turning her attention to others, she somehow navigated through life without revealing much about herself. To me, or to the world.

At age sixty-nine, she died, leaving behind her six children: Hugh, Molly, Charlotte, Benjie, me, and Rachel. When she passed, so did my opportunity to truly understand her. I was thirty-two, and too busy rushing through my daily life and wrestling with the idea of losing my mom to pause and realize that the secret to understanding who I was could only be unlocked by knowing who she was.

Heres what I do know.

Her friends and, frankly, anyone who met her loved her. Anne Avegno Russell was magnetic and as competitive as they comebridge, spades, Scrabble, croquet, Yahtzee. You name it; she played it. She kept a rotating stack of books by her bedside, and that provided all the evidence I needed at a young age to conclude she must be wicked smart. Although not professionally trained as a chef, she read cookbooks voraciously in our living room and channeled her creativity into one-of-a-kind dishes like Sweetbreads Hugo or Crepes Mimieach named after a family member. Those dishes made their way into the mouths of endless patrons who frequented her small neighborhood restaurant with its evolving daily menu.

She spoke through food. When I had a tough day, she would say, Want me to make your favorite pasta? (For the record: fresh tomatoes and basil.) When Dad finally escaped New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, one of the first things she said when she hugged him was, Lets take you out for a steak dinner. Food was her love language.

Her other love language? Sports.

Mom could talk her way into a sports conversation with anyone, often surprising men. I would look up into the stands during my sporting events and find her in deep conversation, strategizing with my friends dads. Soulful, intelligent, and intuitive, she connected with people instantly. But she remained largely out of reach for me. This was, in part, because I was the fifth of six kids and she worked full time as the owner of two restaurants. While she attended all of my sporting events, her schedule didnt allow her to be the apple and a note in your lunch box kind of mom or the person who sat next to me when I did my math flashcards at night.