Chapter 3 launches with Ward’s birth on April 1, 1977, in Oakland, California. Ward details her premature birth six months into the pregnancy and the two months she spent in the hospital as she recovered from complications, including blood tumors and a growth in her abdomen. She still bears scars from this time. The doctors warned Ward’s 18-year-old mother of “severe developmental problems,” although “they were surprised that my lungs worked well, that I fought to breathe. She has a strong heart, they said” (43). Ward’s father reiterates that he never lost confidence in Ward’s ability to survive and thrive.

During the first three years of Ward’s life, her father tames himself from his unconventional, free-spirited ways. However, he struggles to remain faithful, as “remaining faithful to my mother required a kind of moral discipline he’d never developed, since it was constantly undermined by his natural gifts: his charm, his sense of humor, his uncommon beauty” (46). Meanwhile, Ward’s mother attends community college and works toward becoming a preschool teacher. Ward’s father soon becomes homesick for Mississippi and, despite her mother’s reluctance to return, the family moves back in 1980, when the author is three and her mother is pregnant with their second child, Ward’s brother Joshua.