Acknowledgments

I am fortunate indeed. My support structure is comprised of willing, talented, and dedicated friends.

Those in my writer’s group—Maggie Doran, Marie Johnson, Geri Kaeo and Madge Walls—were indis­pensable to the construction of this book. Dot Bergstrom, Carol Bearman, Ross Nodem, and those at the Banana Farm Writer’s Retreat helped me with life’s perspective. Tonia, Steve, Susan, Nancy, Mike, Peggy, Polly, Jeannie, and Pam helped me with eternal perspective. Bob Gutzmer, Pauline Merner, and Clarice Cox continued to believe in me; Susan Bredesen picked me up off the floor every time I started to scream and beat my fists, and Melissa Ann Singer gently urged this tender manuscript off the shelf and helped me make it strong.

Most of all, this writer needs the ongoing stability, love, and laughter (along with a few tense moments) generously supplied by an astonishing assortment of relatives—blood, step, and in-law, but especially from Evan, Eron, and Nikki.