Hillbilly Elegy

grandmother was an untrained caretaker
without a foster license. If things went
poorly for my mother in the courts, I was
as likely to find myself with a foster
family as I was with Mamaw. The notion
of being separated from everyone and
everything I loved was terrifying. So I
shut my mouth, told the social workers
everything was fine, and hoped that I
wouldn’t lose my family when the court
hearing came.
That hope panned out—Mom didn’t
go to jail, and I got to stay with Mamaw.
The arrangement was informal: I could
stay with Mom if I wanted, but if not,
Mamaw’s door was always open. The
enforcement mechanism was equally