Hillbilly Elegy

of how she felt, whether her emphysema
made it difficult to breathe or her hip
hurt so badly that she could barely walk,
she never turned down an opportunity to
“spend time with those babies,” as she
put it. Mamaw loved them, and I began
to understand why she had always
dreamed of becoming a lawyer for
abused and neglected children.
At some point, Mamaw underwent
major back surgery to help with the pain
that made walking difficult. She landed
in a nursing home for a few months to
recover, forcing me to live alone, an
experience that happily didn’t last long.
Every night she called Lindsay, Aunt
Wee, or me and made the same request: