In Designated Daughter: The Bonus Years with Mom, D. G. Fulford and her mother, Phyllis Greene, give everyone who reads this book a bonus. Readers will find a witty, touching, and inspirational story of a mother and daughter and how their relationship grows and changes with age and through life’s experiences.

After D. G.’s father dies, she decides it is best to move back home to be closer to her mother. She returns expecting to be a caregiver for her mother, but D. G. quickly realizes she will be on the receiving end of care in many ways much of the time. As this mother-daughter team become friends and partners, the reader is led to reevaluate or remember their own relationship with their mother.

Uniquely told, D. G. Fulford’s journey is richly enhanced by her mother’s adding her take on things at the end of each chapter. Phyllis Greene became an author herself at the age of 82, and their shared careers are a good foundation for the bond that develops. They are different in many ways, but they soon discover that their mutual needs are met by sharing this special time together. D. G. relates how their lives changed following her father’s death and how they share so much together, like other mothers and daughters do in the same situation. She realizes there are many mother/daughter partnerships like theirs, and she gives herself and those like her the nickname of “designated daughters.”

Everyday chores and experiences are dealt with, but in a shared manner with support and love, as well as adversity and sacrifices. The story also includes the role the rest of their family play in important decisions for their mother, as well as normal family celebrations and shared heartaches. Laced with anecdotes from D. G. and Phyllis’s friends’ own shared experiences, the story is enriched with the celebration of each of these relationships.

As Phyllis Greene ages and her health takes the turn that age inevitably plays on one’s life, the bond grows with D. G., and this heartwarming, joyfully honest, and uplifting account gives all of us hope for the future and for the love that is shared between parent and child.