“ I stayed in school. I was not the smartest or even particularly outstanding, but I was there and staying out of trouble and I intended to finish….Mama always said barefoot and pregnant was not my style. She knew.” please explain.

Missy's mother means that she is not the type of girl to get pregnant with some boy destined to be a tobacco farmer. Missy is too strong willed and self-aware to settle down and become a baby machine,

"I knew the scenery of Greenup Road, which we called Steam-It-Up Road, and I knew what a pecker looked like, and none of these sights had so far inspired me to get hogtied to a future as a tobacco farmer's wife. Mama always said barefoot and pregnant was not my style. She knew. "

Missy's mother knew her girl is destined for something different.