Once you'd resolved to go, there was nothing to it at all. Jeannette Walls More Quotes by Jeannette Walls More Quotes From Jeannette Walls 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 sometimes it did seem that instead of us owning the place, the place owned us. Jeannette Walls mom strong sex I feel like I failed," I said. "Don't beat yourself up," Jim said. "She might not have turned out like you planned, but that don't mean she turned out wrong. Jeannette Walls like-you might mean 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. Jeannette Walls fun baby children 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. Jeannette Walls luxury two thinking 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. Jeannette Walls dad space purpose 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. Jeannette Walls rushing feelings thinking But no matter how much planning you do, one tiny miscalculation, one moment of distraction, can end it all in an instant. Jeannette Walls tiny planning matter When people kill themselves, they think they're ending the pain, but all they're doing is passing it on to those they leave behind. Jeannette Walls suicidal pain suicide She was developing what Mom called a bit of a sarcastic streak. Jeannette Walls streaks sarcastic mom 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. Jeannette Walls horse race winning We laughed about all the kids who believed in the Santa Clause myth and got nothing but a bunch of cheap plastic toys. 'Years from now, when all the junk they got is broken and long forgotten,' Dad said, ' you'll still have your stars. Jeannette Walls dad stars kids Memoir is about handing over you life to someone and saying, This is what I went through, this is who I am, and maybe you can learn something from it. Jeannette Walls memoir who-i-am over-you You West Virginia girls are one tough breed," he said. You got that right," I told him. Jeannette Walls virginia girl west One thing about whoring: It put a chicken on the table. Jeannette Walls one-thing chickens tables One time I saw a tiny Joshua tree sapling growing not too far from the old tree. I wanted to dig it up and replant it near our house. I told Mom that I would protect it from the wind and water it every day so that it could grow nice and tall and straight. Mom frowned at me. "You'd be destroying what makes it special," she said. "It's the Joshua tree's struggle that gives it its beauty. Jeannette Walls nice mom struggle Mom told us we would have to go shoplifting. Isn't that a sin?" I asked Mom. Not exactly," Mom said. "God doesn't mind you bending the rules a little if you have a good reason. It's sort of like justifiable homicide. This is justifiable pilfering. Jeannette Walls bending mom mind Don't worry, God understands,' Mom said. 'He knows that your father is a cross we must bear. Jeannette Walls mom worry father New Yorkers, I figured, just pretended to be unfriendly. Jeannette Walls unfriendly new-yorkers The dangerous falls were the ones that happened so fast you didn't have time to react Jeannette Walls happened dangerous fall She never felt sorry for herself, and that was something I decided I admired most in people. Jeannette Walls admiration sorry people