This book presents the lives of my parents and step-parentslargely in their own words and focusing particularly on how their early ambitions and expectations were compromised by reality. Lawyer Ben Warfield started as a tax attorney and ended in the USIA. Farm girl Lucile Newell dreamed of marrying urban Mister Right and didon the third try. Bea Whitcomb wanted to escape from home and then from a first husband, and got lucky in her second marriage. Finally, Dick Coopers life illustrates how an idealistic youth can set out to shake up the world and settle for much less while retaining his idealism.