In this world, it's not enough to have a fine education. You need a piece of paper to prove you got it.

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.

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.

Don't worry, God understands,' Mom said. 'He knows that your father is a cross we must bear.

If you don't want to sink, you better figure out how to swim

If you don't think you're hurt, then you aren't

Interesting people always have a past.