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Beginning of life
In the 1940s, Mamaw moved with her husband (Vance's Papaw) from Kentucky to Middletown, Ohio and left behind her huge family in Jackson. He remembers visiting Middletown a lot as a kid, and now it was his reality. He left his life in Kentucky for a new life with his Mamaw and Papaw.
(This first chapter as about his family's life before Vance was born) -
New life
After the tough integration into Middletown, Ohio for the family, Mamaw and Papaw started to get used to their new life quite slowly. Mamaw and Papaw had their first boy (Vance's Uncle Jimmy) and was very protective of him. They even barged in and cursed out the clerk of a store after jimmy was asked to leave when touching an expensive toy. -
More
Mamaw and Papaw continued to have more kids after Uncle Jimmy; Vance's mother Bee and his Aunt Wee. Sadly, a few years after all their children were born, Mamaw and Papaw began to frequently fight mainly because of Papaw's bad drinking problem. Uncle Jimmy witness a fight when Mamaw threw a vase at Papaw and it split his head open. -
Young Vance
When Vance was in first grade, his teacher would teach math by making student come up with questions for other students to answer. One time, he said fifty minus twenty and received candy for his work. Another student asked a multiplication question and that night, Papaw sat him down and taught him multiplication. -
Adoption
This was the time when daughter of Mamaw and Papaw, Vance's mother Bev, and his step father Don was giving him up for adoption. Vance was only in kindergarten at the time. After Don was out of his life, Bev married Bob Hamel to ended up adopting Vance to be with his mom. -
God
This was the time in Vance's life when he truly figured out his love for God from his Mamaw's perspective. He asked "Mamaw, does God love us?", and she started crying. He was seeking reassurance that his religion could still make sense of the world he lived in. -
Death
Not long after Vance turned thirteen, Bev started dating a new guy named Matt. At this same time, Papaw died. The family found him slumped in chair after not hearing from him for several day. Everyone was sad and grieving for quite some time. -
New Parents
Vance's mother Bev finished one year of sobriety, and he was living with Mamaw after Bev was arrested after threatening to to kill him. Sadly, Mamaw was too old and fragile to care care of a 14 year old boy, so Vance started to live with Don Bowman. He claimed to be able to offer Vance a nice and stable life. -
Craziness
One morning after Vance decided to spend a night at Mamaw's, Bev burst in and demanded that he give her his urine so that she would test negative on her employer's drug test. This was the confession to Vance that she started using again, and Vance lashed out at her, told her she was a terrible mother, and that she should stop ruining her life. -
Accomplishments
Vance's time in Mamaw's house after living with Don Bowman payed off with his stellar academic performance. Vance was accepted to Ohio State University, and Mamaw assured Vance that his education was a great thing to spend money on. After a hard decision process, he instead decided to join the Marines because he did not want the college commitments. -
After Marines
After Vance finished his time the United States Marines, he decided to attend Ohio State University. He decided to finish college as quickly as possible after he realized his hard work was taking a huge toll on his health. This sparked his decision to move back to Middletown and attend Law School after undergrad graduation from Ohio State University. -
Yale
Vance attended Law School at Yale University and was surprised to see posters of important people everywhere. This led him to be able to meet the governor of New York. Sadly, there was rough moment for him to identify with a Yale law student or a kid from Middletown when speaking to a lady with a Yale shirt on. This made him think a lot. -
Love
During Vance's time at Yale, he came to fall in love with one of his fellow law students Usha. This girl became his inspiration and his "Yale spirit guide". She was basically his general life coach as he navigated through the college life at Yale. He follows her advice until he was able to follow his own advice. -
Relationships
During his second year of law school, Vance's relationship with Usha was showing signs of distress because of his hesitancy to open up and share his feelings with her. This was a happy love story because after getting in a huge fight one day, Vance walked around the town to find Usha sitting and waiting for him to find her and make up. They made up when Usha accepted Vance'a apology. -
Second Chances
At this time in Vance's life, Bev went him for help. He was unable to turn her away because she was his mother. He cared for his mother and paid for her motel room when she was begging for his assistance. He lost sympathy for her when he found the motel room filled with drugs.
