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20c8f48
|
I could see why Archimedes got all excited. There was nothing finer than the feeling that came rushing through you when it clicked and you suddenly understood something that had puzzled you. It made you think it just might be possible to get a handle on this old world after all.
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understanding
world
puzzle
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Jeannette Walls |
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4547f7e
|
No child is born a delinquent. They only became that way if nobody loved them when they were kids. Unloved children grow up to be serial murderers or alcoholics.
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life
love
parenting
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Jeannette Walls |
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80d13ca
|
sometimes after I finished a particularly good book, I had the urge to get the library card, find out who else had read the book, and track them down to talk about it
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Jeannette Walls |
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d7e40da
|
Life there was hard and it made people hard.
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people
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Jeannette Walls |
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aecba34
|
It (the sun) didn't really care how I felt, it was going to rise and set regardless of whether I noticed it, and if I was going to enjoy it, that was up to me.
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Jeannette Walls |
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6ea0c17
|
All seasons have something to offer
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seasons
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Jeannette Walls |
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82b82ba
|
But no matter how much planning you do, one tiny miscalculation, one moment of distraction, can end it all in an instant.
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Jeannette Walls |
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abb4e54
|
As I sat down, though, I realized that you can get used to certain luxuries that you start to think they're necessities, but when you have to forgo them, you come to see that you don't need them after all. There was a big difference between needing things and wanting things--though a lot of people had trouble telling the two apart--and at the ranch, I could see, we have pretty much everything we'd need but precious little else.
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want
need
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Jeannette Walls |
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cb8d32e
|
She was developing what Mom called a bit of a sarcastic streak.
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Jeannette Walls |
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a115e5b
|
That was the thing to remember about all monsters, Dad said: They love to frighten people, but the minute you stare them down, they turn tail and run. "All you have to do, Mountain Goat, is show old Demon that you're not afraid."
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Jeannette Walls |
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780fc4a
|
Maybe I should have cut him some slack. With his broken wing and lifetime of eating roadkill, he probably had a lot to be ungrateful about. Too much hard luck can create a permanent meanness of spirit in any creature.
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Jeannette Walls |
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92a6ec9
|
You West Virginia girls are one tough breed," he said. You got that right," I told him." --
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Jeannette Walls |
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64bdefe
|
If I owned hell and west Texas, he said, I do believe I'd sell west Texas and live in hell.
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Jeannette Walls |
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7b1dd52
|
Dad was a philosopher and had what he called his Theory of Purpose, which held that everything in life had a purpose, and unless it achieved that purpose, it was just taking up space on the planet and wasting everybody's time.
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purpose-of-life
|
Jeannette Walls |
|
04a86d7
|
Life is a drama full of tragedy and comedy," Mom told me. "You should learn to enjoy the comic episodes a little more."
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Jeannette Walls |
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609f702
|
It was good work, the kind of work that let you sleep soundly at night and, when you awoke, look forward to the day.
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Jeannette Walls |
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31e6d04
|
I felt best when I was on the move, going someplace rather than being there.
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Jeannette Walls |
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4c7f462
|
But the positive thoughts would give way to negative thoughts, and the negative thoughts seemed to swoop into her mind the way a big flock of black crows takes over the landscape, sitting thick in the trees and on the fence rails and lawns, staring at you in ominous silence.
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Jeannette Walls |
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36668fd
|
The dangerous falls were the ones that happened so fast you didn't have time to react
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Jeannette Walls |
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4c34c89
|
You should never hate anyone, not even your worst enemies. Everyone has something good about them. You had to find the redeeming quality and love the person for that.
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hate
love
|
Jeannette Walls |
|
c8d9e6a
|
What doesn't kill you will make you stronger
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|
life
parenting
|
Jeannette Walls |
|
737bcbe
|
Don't be afraid of your dark places," Mom told her. "If you can shine a light on them, you'll find treasure there."
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Jeannette Walls |
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2a9e520
|
The way Mom saw it, women should let menfolk do the work because it made them feel more manly. That notion only made sense if you had a strong man willing to step up and get things done, and between Dad's gimp, Buster's elaborate excuses, and Apache's tendency to disappear, it was often up to me to keep the place from falling apart. But even when everyone was pitching in, we never got out from under all the work. I loved that ranch, though ..
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|
ranch
work
farming
common-sense
daughter
mother
|
Jeannette Walls |
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aad5470
|
New Yorkers, I figured, just pretended to be unfriendly.
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Jeannette Walls |
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9383d45
|
She wore tight corsets to give her a teeny waist - I helped her lace them up - but they had the effect of causing her to faint. Mom called it the vapors and said it was a sign of her high breeding and delicate nature. I thought it was a sign that the corset made it hard to breathe.
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|
common-sense
victorian-era
fashion
nonsense
|
Jeannette Walls |
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3da6b45
|
Since Mom wasn't exactly the most useful person in the world, one lesson I learned at an early age was how to get things done, and this was a source of both amazement and concern for Mom, who considered my behavior unladylike but also counted on me. "I never knew a girl to have such gumption," she'd say. "But I'm not too sure it's a good thing."
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|
mixed-feelings
strong-willed-child
daughter
determination
mother
|
Jeannette Walls |
|
869dd8e
|
I wanted to let the world know that no one had a perfect life, that even people who seemed to have it all had their secrets.
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Jeannette Walls |
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daadcc0
|
If you want to be treated like a mother," I said, "you should act like one." --
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Jeannette Walls |
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aeea754
|
If you had weak eyes, they needed exercise to get strong. Glasses were like crutches. They prevented people with feeble eyes from seeing the world on their own.
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|
eyesight
parenting-tip
glasses
eyes
|
Jeannette Walls |
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1d88005
|
Don't worry, God understands,' Mom said. 'He knows that your father is a cross we must bear.
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Jeannette Walls |
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cf91a90
|
Once you go on welfare it changes you. Even if you get off welfare, you never escape the stigma that you were a charity case. You're scarred for life.
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|
state-benefits
life
welfare
|
Jeannette Walls |
|
1daa787
|
everyone who is interesting has a past
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Jeannette Walls |
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3fb0423
|
We had some times, didn't we?' 'We did.' 'Never did build that Glass Castle.' 'No. But we had fun planning it.
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Jeannette Walls |
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16063d7
|
Dad kept telling me that he loved me, that he never would have let me drown, but you can't cling to the side your whole life, that one lesson every parent needs to teach a child is "If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim."
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Jeannette Walls |
|
8b2b4fc
|
Every household needs one piece of furniture in really bad taste.
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Jeannette Walls |
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24ee7b5
|
People worried too much about their children. Suffering when you're young is good for you. It immunized your body and soul...
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|
kids-funny
suffering
parenting
|
Jeannette Walls |
|
7f86e1c
|
Don't you make fun of me or my children! Some babies are premature. Mine were all postmature. That's why they're so smart. Their brains had longer to develop.
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|
humor
|
Jeannette Walls |
|
711da51
|
In this world, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you got it.
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|
|
Jeannette Walls |
|
92def09
|
What I do know is that wondering why you survived don't help you survive.
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Jeannette Walls |
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c81d4f7
|
What Dad didn't understand was that no matter how much he hated or feared the future, it was coming, and there was only one way to deal with it: by climbing aboard.
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Jeannette Walls |
|
0f3b554
|
Brian told Mom we needed to keep Maureen away from those nutty Pentecostals, but Mom said we all came to religion in our own individual ways and we each need to respect the religious practices of others, seeing as it was up to every human being to find his or her own way to heaven.
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Jeannette Walls |
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4d6f20f
|
I became known as Lily Casey, the mustang-breaking, poker-playing, horse-race-winning schoolmarm of Coconino County, and it wasn't half bad to be in place where no one had a problem with a woman having a moniker like that.
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Jeannette Walls |
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7ea97ab
|
even though I was getting better education at home than any of the kids in Toyah, I'd need to go to finishing school when I was thirteen, both to acquire social graces and to earn a diploma. Because in this world, Dad said, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you go it.
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|
sarcasm
|
Jeannette Walls |
|
964f3ee
|
we both stood a better chance if we took on the world together.
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Jeannette Walls |