Part 1 Summary

Operating Instructions is a series of diary entries made by the author, Anne Lamott, which chronicle the first year of her son Sam's life. The book begins with a preface that describes her feelings in the months leading up to her son's birth. The diary's initial entry is written approximately three months prior to Sam's birth and describes Anne's realization that she is quite pregnant and about to become a single mother. While she obviously has known for some time that a child is on the way, she tells us that the physical transformation her body has undergone in recent weeks has been very noticeable and that she now knows that this baby's birth is undeniable.

As she contemplates the many ways in which her life is about to change, she alludes to the fact that she has one specific overwhelming fear about...