Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I loved watching the TV show Leave It to Beaver, which portrayed a perfect family living out their lives. I wished I could have such a family, but I knew that was beyond what my own family could ever hope to achieve. #2 The author’s father was a salesman, and he spent the work week traveling through several states meeting with community fire chiefs and city council members to convince them to buy one very big truck. He was rarely home, and when he was, he spent most of his time drinking with his war buddies. #3 I was left to wonder what the early years were really like. When I was in my mid-forties, I worked with my town’s historical society gathering dozens of oral histories from the original settlers. I wanted to fly back to my hometown and visit my oldest sister, Holly, who still lived there. Holly was not going to share a single recollection with me. #4 The stories my parents told me were never recorded, and I was not allowed to hear them until after they died. I grew up hearing the stories, and as I grew older, I deliberately declined invitations to play with my cousins so that I could hear the stories being told by my older siblings.