Hillbilly Elegy

I wished I didn’t. Mom visited Kentucky
only for the annual family reunion or the
occasional funeral, and when she did,
Mamaw made sure she brought none of
the drama. In Jackson, there would be no
screaming, no fighting, no beating up on
my sister, and especially “no men,” as
Mamaw would say. Mamaw hated
Mom’s various love interests and
allowed none of them in Kentucky.
In Ohio, I had grown especially
skillful at navigating various father
figures. With Steve, a midlife-crisis
sufferer with an earring to prove it, I
pretended earrings were cool—so much
so that he thought it appropriate to pierce
my ear, too. With Chip, an alcoholic