This memoir marks the metaphorical journey from independent young woman to wife and mother frustrated with the limits of domestic life, then the literal journey from the Midwest to the west coast in pursuit of professional fulfillment. Though a product of her generation in many ways, bright, ambitious Jeanne Warren Lindsay found the independence she craved in college and envisioned a future as a New York magazine editor. Still, society’s expectations for women proved strong, and she traded her fantasy job for a picture-book marriage with picture-book kids. By the end of the 1950s, however, she feared she had evolved into a boring woman and needed to change. Only after moving her family to California and reinventing herself as a teacher and writer, did she finally find that previously elusive balance between domestic and professional satisfaction. Poignant and humorous, it provides nostalgic value, as well as a positive feminist message for modern women struggling with the often conflicting desires for family and career.