<p>What is a normal life, anyway?</p><p><br></p><p>Perfect parents, who never argued or made a mistake? Some 2.2 perfectly behaved children who magically morphed into honor students, then doctors and lawyers with no problems, or nary a regret? All this, evolving from the safety of some picket fence inside the boundaries of which never a harsh word was spoken?</p><p><br></p><p>How far back must you go in your family before hitting grief or hurt?</p><p><br></p><p>Steve Watkins never knew what to call it, but he knew something about growing up on a small rural farm in the 1980s felt different. Something strange and out of the ordinary.</p><p><br></p><p>Somewhere along the way, someone called it the U.S. Farm Crisis, and the label stuck. One psychologist who counseled widow after grieving widow called it a wrecking ball that blindsided rural America. Another academic described it simply as "ungodly hell."</p><p><br></p><p>Watkins called it childhood.</p><ul><li>For anyone who ever had a difficult relationship with a parent,</li><li>For anyone who couldn't get away from home fast enough to start their own life,</li><li>For anyone who ever wondered <em>why they are the way they are ...</em></li></ul><p><br></p><p>Watkins infuses humor with transparency and a delightful tale of rural America as he recounts a quest for self-discovery, purpose, and the surprise reward of learning to love home again.</p>