This month’s Lucky 13 post is dedicated to friends and mothers. My friend Jennifer’s mother is no longer on this planet; nearly forty years ago she created a home-away-from-home for her family near Palm Springs. Jennifer inherited her mother’s taste, graciousness, intelligence, and sense of humor. And Jennifer generously invited me to join her on a trip to their family desert getaway. In exchange for “helping to clean up the place” before it’s closed up for the hot summer (“helping,” in this case, means mostly “staying out of the way and pouring cool drinks”), I’ve been lucky enough to visit the Mojave desert for the first time in my life, taking a break from final line edits on You, Jane to experience this breathtaking place.

Thanks to friends and mothers, here I am in the big rocks of Joshua Tree State Park.