Five years ago, Mother Co. founder and Chief Executive Abbie Schiller, 42, and her family decided to move in with her parents at her childhood home in Pacific Palisades to keep her then-fledgling children’s entertainment startup above water.

“I was terrified,” Schiller said. “For the first several weeks I really regressed into my 16-year-old self.”

Schiller said her husband, Marc Gordonson, also 42, adjusted to the move better than she did and forged a close bond with her mom and dad.

“He grew up in a broken home,” Schiller said. “For the first time he felt like he had an extended family that loved and enjoyed him.”

Another plus was that the couple’s daughter was about to start kindergarten and the neighborhood schools were excellent. Schiller also hoped that it would boost the spirits of her 90-year-old dad who had recently suffered from a fall and been in the hospital for pneumonia. It worked.

“He had a reason to get up every morning and be around the life that we provided,” Schiller said. “We thought he had maybe one or two years left and five years later he’s still thriving.”

With a new son welcomed to the clan, the family hasn’t left yet.

“My mother jokes I’m inheriting the house with her still in it,” Schiller laughed.

Surf and Turf

When Josiah Citrin isn’t in the kitchen, the renowned chef and owner of Michelin-rated restaurant Melisse in Santa Monica brings the heat to the beach.

Citrin, 46, grew up near the ocean and said he likes to surf almost as much as he likes to cook.

“Ideally, I’d like to surf every day, like I did when I was a kid,” he said.

Now that he’s not a kid, he still manages to get in a couple of surfing sessions a week before work when the waves are good. And when he can, he relishes the time he gets to spend surfing with his 17-year-old son, Augie. Earlier this month, the duo drove to Malibu to spend the day together surfing and celebrate the teen’s birthday.

“We got up, got some coffee and hit the road,” he said. “We listened to music and rocked out in the car on the way there, then found some waves and got in a good session.”

After surfing for hours, the two shared in Citrin’s other passion: They stopped for seafood on the way home.

“It’s nice to have something to eat after,” he said, “and Augie wanted lobster.”

Staff reporters Omar Shamout and Bethany Firnhaber contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].