Hillbilly Elegy

our lives. Mamaw and Papaw did
everything they could to fight that
instinct. On our rare trips to a nice
restaurant, they would interrogate me
about what I truly wanted until I’d
confess that yes, I did want the steak.
And then they’d order it for me over my
protests. No matter how imposing, no
figure could erase that feeling entirely.
Papaw had come the closest, but he
clearly hadn’t succeeded all the way,
and now he was gone.
Papaw died on a Tuesday, and I
know this because when Mom’s
boyfriend, Matt, drove me to a local
diner the next morning to pick up food
for the whole family, the Lynyrd Skynyrd