As a fellow self-taught astronomer, I would have appreciated less of the 'story telling' and more of the details. None of my parents are much interested in astronomy, but I am. If all astronomers only had parents interested in astronomy, then astronomy would have died centuries ago.

I don't really care if his/her's dog's neighbor's boyfriend's aunt did XYZ that was tangentially related. Alas, that type of mush 'sells' page views.