Against these forces — an earth rotating, a sun lowering its angle in the sky, winds filling with rain and the geese arriving — time is just a made-u… - Richard Ford

When you are sixteen you do not know what your parents know, or much of what they understand, and less of what's in their hearts. This can save you from becoming an adult too early, save your life from becoming only theirs lived over again — which is a loss. But to shield yourself — as I didn't do — seems to be an even greater error, since what's lost is the truth of your parents' life and what you should think about it, and beyond that, how you should estimate the world you are about to live in.

You can get carried away with how things were once, and not how you need to make them better.

My parents...were people running from the past, who didn't look back at much if they could help it, and whose whole life always lay somewhere in the offing.