Very good! Thank you for posting.
I especially liked:
"And the door in 1955, when we went to live with him, was swinging open inward. If we didn’t behave ourselves, there’d be a day when it would swing outward and we’d be asked to leave." I tell my children the same thing.
“I will never tell you to do as I say. I will always tell you to do as I do.” How many parents could do this?
"He kept us close to him as though we were his apprentices in life, that we were adults in training. He was the one who was going to train us, so we were to follow him. Watch how he did it. “Watch how I live my life and you will learn.”
"He didn’t believe in debt, so he didn’t buy a car on time. He didn’t buy anything on time." We should all try to do this.
“Don’t confuse want and need. You may want a new suit, but you don’t need it. You may want a new car, but you don’t need it.” I teach my children the same.
"When you rode with him, he was the professor and you were to be seen and not heard."
“Old man can’t is dead, I helped bury him.” 😀
"The priesthood had been my only goal. And when that went away it was like I was in a freefall." Wonder why the priesthood "went away"....
"So he took me to the living room, and he said that, as he had promised when we came to live [there] in 1955, the door opened inward then, now it was opening outward. And I was to leave his house. Since I had made [the] decisions of a man, I should live like one.
And I said, “When?” And he said, I will never forget it, “Today, this day.” I think I was fumbling around and said, “Well, are you still going to help me with college?” He said, “No. You’re a man. You figure it out.”" how many fathers would do this?
“I didn’t raise you to be like this. After all our sacrifices, this is what you’ve become.” Amen!
"I mean, it’s fine that people are thinking of these policies, but the things that matter are the people, like my grandparents and like the nuns. "
"The nuns and my grandparents are, in a sense, the “but for” causation: They’re the reason I’m sitting here today; “but for” them, I wouldn’t be here. "