ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The first person I want to acknowledge and thank is my dad, who passed from this earth just before this book was finished. You were a rock throughout my life, Dad, and an unselfish source of time and energy and support. I miss you.

And I want to thank my mom who, along with my dad, showed me what it means to be a dedicated parent and to put family before everything else. How you managed our homework, sports, activities, and household I’ll never know.

Of course I want to acknowledge my wife, Laura, for your complete dedication to our boys, and your unwavering support for me and my work. Sharing the responsibility for managing our frantic family has been my sleepless privilege, one that I will always treasure.

I want to thank my wonderful friends and coworkers at The Table Group—Amy, Tracy, Michele, Karen, Jeff, Lynne, Alison, Danielle, and Jackie. You are like family to me, and your advice and counsel and patience and inspiration and energy are more important to me than you will ever realize. I also appreciate your willingness to share stories about your families, which has been a source of great inspiration and humor to me.

 

I thank my dear brother and sister for your passion and commitment to our family, especially this year. And to my many aunts, uncles, cousins, and relatives for your love and concern this year too.

I thank my editor, Susan, and all her colleagues at Jossey-Bass/Wiley, both in San Francisco and New York, for your commitment to my books and to all of us at The Table Group. And I thank Rita for her special help with public relations, and Jim for being so much more than just an agent.

And a special thanks to Tracy for your commitment to this book, and for your great attention to detail.

I want to acknowledge and express my appreciation to the many families that served as guinea pigs of sorts for this book: the Amadors, the De Witts, the Fiorindos, the Gibsons, the Hietts, the Hourigans, the Magues, the Neveses, the Nobles, the Phillipses, and the Rangos.

And most important, as always, I reserve my deepest gratitude to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for providing all that is good, and for the many blessings bestowed on my family.