Hillbilly Elegy

community college and earn an
associate’s degree in nursing. I was
probably seven or eight when she started
working full-time as a nurse, and I liked
to think that I had contributed in some
small way: I “helped” her study by
crawling all over her, and I let her
practice drawing blood on my youthful
veins.
Sometimes Mom’s devotion to
education arguably went a little too far.
During my third-grade science fair
project, Mom helped at every stage—
from planning the project to assisting
with lab notes to assembling the
presentation. The night before everything
was due, the project looked precisely