Remember pencils?

Designing and drafting homes became my passion.

Author Richard Deatherage has created a memoir that will likely be a standard toward which all future memoirists will reach. Not only is the audiobook beautifully written as a coming-of-age story, but it also is a reflection on Americana - the way we have lived and the impact of history on our families and our lives.

In a sensitive prologue, Richard writes, "Our American way of life has given each of us the individual challenge to become successful in our own individual way, with all the opportunities and common freedoms to mold yourself into a career field you have chosen. The evolution of my early childhood had set forth an abundance of confidence early on in my life. To make difficult decisions and to change easily to what ever came my way - continuing to this day. My adventures growing up in the 1960s and '70s throughout America as an official United States Air Force Brat (USAFB) had given me a unique perspective on our American way of life."

Deatherage recounts witnessing racism, his family struggles while his father served in Vietnam, absorbing the Midwestern lifestyle while moving as a military family every four years, and his eventual settling in California; his passion for drafting discovered in mechanical drafting class in high school to his successful career as a carpenter, draftsman, builder, and construction superintendent has lead in the blossoming of the Sacramento area, the abrupt change in his life brought about by the infamous 2008 economic crash, and ultimately the death of his beloved father. All of this saga is related with the warmth that makes this audiobook memorable.