Hillbilly Elegy

was our mom, too.” That said it all, so I
continued to sit in silence.
The day after the funeral, I drove
back to North Carolina to rejoin my
Marine Corps unit. On the way back, on
a narrow mountain back road in
Virginia, I hit a wet patch of road
coming around a turn, and the car began
spinning out of control. I was moving
fast, and my twisting car showed no
signs of slowing as it hurtled towards
the guardrail. I thought briefly that this
was it—that I’d topple over that
guardrail and join Mamaw just a bit
sooner than I expected—when all of a
sudden the car stopped. It is the closest
I’ve ever come to a true supernatural