At the end of eighth grade, his mom had been sober for a year and in a steady relationship. He was doing well in school and his sister, Lindsay, had gotten married and had a baby. His Aunt Wee also had two kids. As school progressed things got so bad with his mom that Vance went to live with his Mamaw. However, an opportunity for Vance was when he would stay with Mamaw for extended periods of time and his life suddenly seemed so much better. There are many threats in Vance’s life, however, the most important threat to Vance was his own mother. He tried telling Mamaw about his mother’s potential relapse, but because no longer lived with her, she couldn’t see how bad his mother had gotten. The summer after eighth grade he experienced his first personal acknowledgment of a weakness, not wanting his life to have no safety net again. Another weakness Vance experiences …show more content…
He tried telling Mamaw about his mother’s potential relapse, but because no longer lived with her, she couldn’t see how bad his mother had gotten. However, after staying the night at Mamaw’s, his mother came in demanding a clean urine sample from him. “Mom’s demand came with… yet another promise to never use drugs” (130). Vance tried to refuse his mother initially. To him, she had broken her promise of sobriety too many times to forgive. He hated the fact that he, and Mamaw, had let her get away with it so many times she feels entitled to forgiveness. Mamaw seemed upset, but after Vance yelled at her (for enabling his mother) and his mother about being horrible mothers, she was on the verge of tears. However, although Vance yelled at her, she convinced him to give the sample in the hopes that this last time might help her. Because of his mother, Vance had started smoking weed, and thought she wouldn’t get a clean sample either way. Eventually he gave a sample to his mother though because Mamaw convinced