This, That, and Everything shares the true and often hilarious account of the starts, the stalls, the reverses, and the restarts of Norma Nightingale's life. It covers the whole range of her life, from childhood to becoming a grandma and beyond. In a memoir that is humorous and sad by turns, she recounts her life, which began as the sixth of eight children born into a Holdeman Mennonite family. Their way of life was to live in simplicity with economy and modesty-including the way they dressed and how they conducted themselves, not drawing attention to themselves.

She tells of her...