The following is a work of nonfiction, and in calling it so, I feel a grave responsibility to honor that definition, but I acknowledge that it rests on the limits of my memory. I’ve recalled each aspect of the story as best and accurately as I can, and as literally, with the following creative exceptions: 1) I’ve re-created the dialogue from memory, not notes taken at the time, except on very few occasions (such as times I wrote down verbatim things my husband said because they struck me as so unique). Therefore, the conversations recorded here are a combination of my best approximations of what took place and my attempts, when possible, to consult the other people involved. 2) To protect the privacy of certain characters in the book, I have changed some names. 3) In a very few instances, for the sake of narrative consistency or brevity, I have combined multiple minor scenes that happened over time into a single minor scene.
Any other inaccuracies or errors in the text are both unintentional and mine alone.