Hillbilly Elegy

kicked her out of the house in response.
They were divorcing, and she had
nowhere to go.
I’d sworn to myself that I’d never
help Mom again, but the person who
made that oath to himself had changed. I
was exploring, however uneasily, the
Christian faith that I’d discarded years
earlier. I had learned, for the first time,
the extent of Mom’s childhood emotional
wounds. And I had realized that those
wounds never truly heal, even for me. So
when I discovered that Mom was in dire
straits, I didn’t mutter insults under my
breath and hang up the phone. I offered
to help her.
I tried to call a Middletown hotel