Amy’s childhood in Amarillo, Texas, felt like freedom. She loved exploring the open spaces in her neighborhood with her friends, sure “that nothing bad would happen” (12). Her family owned a small chain of convenience stores. In her family’s stores, “everything was perfect” (14), and this order represented “a form of safety” (14). Amy’s grandparents had opened the first store when her father was a baby. After her grandfather died, Amy’s grandmother inherited her husband’s business, expanding the store into nearly 30 locations and becoming a successful entrepreneur. 

Amy’s father was devoted to his family, but his expectations of his children were high. Amy’s mother met Amy’s father in college and “became the quintessential homemaker” (20), embracing the Southern expectations “that women should always look good, even while effortlessly juggling domestic tasks” (21). Between the influence of her mother’s “kindness” and her father’s “achievement,” Amy “knew to pay it forward” (22): an attitude that would cause her to grow up to be “a people pleaser” (22). Amy and her siblings were also “ambassador[s] of the family business” (22). Painfully aware that “people were watching,” Amy always “wanted to make [her] family proud” (22).

Athletics were an important part of the small-town community, and Amy played a number of sports.