This morning in Nashville, I was honored to be Peggy Rowe’s +1, at an event sponsored by an organization called Fifty-Forward. I’d been in DC over the weekend, filming a movie for Independence Day, (more on that later), when I learned my mother would be flying today in the same general direction as me. So – being forward of fifty myself – I decided to accompany her to the event, introduce her to the crowd, and see for myself what she says to large groups of people while unsupervised, before I headed home to California. 
In short, I’m pleased to report that she absolutely crushed it.
Aside from one anxious moment when she referred to “My Cock,” (the official name a painting my cousin Nancy gave me a few years ago of a rooster, pictured here,) her comments were warm, funny, insightful, and decidedly G-rated. In fact, it became clear to me, and to all those assembled, that my 86-year-old 
mother could make a pretty good living impersonating a public speaker, if she were so inclined. She occupies a strange but fertile piece of real-estate somewhere between David Sedaris and Erma Bombeck, and she had the crowd in the palm of her hand.
In other news, her most recent podcast episode with me, “Nude Sunbathing with America’s Grandmother,” continues to generate a flurry of comments, disturbing mental images, and raised eyebrows. You can listen to all of it here, if you dare.