Hillbilly Elegy

that I’d fail to make the cut. I hardly
worried about those things. But when
Mom, Lindsay, and Aunt Wee drove me
to the bus that would take me to the
airport and on to boot camp from there, I
imagined my life four years later. And I
saw a world without my grandmother in
it. Something inside me knew that she
wouldn’t survive my time in the
Marines. I’d never come home again, at
least not permanently. Home was
Middletown with Mamaw in it. And by
the time I finished with the Marines,
Mamaw would be gone.
Marine Corps boot camp lasts
thirteen weeks, each with a new training
focus. The night I arrived in Parris