For me, one of the happiest parts of the publishing process is the moment when I get to sit back and reflect on all the people who have given me so much during the time—the scary, funny, and totally rewarding time—that it takes me to write a book. I keep saying over and over again how lucky I am— and I have to say it again this time because it is so true. So thank you to Eric Simonoff, my amazing agent/friend, who is one of the biggest gifts I've ever gotten from the universe. Thank you to Gina Centrello, who allows me to continue doing this thing I love so much. Thanks to Laura Ford, who has been my friend and is now my editor, for stepping in and giving Family Acts such a thoughtful and amazing edit. Thanks to Libby McGuire—support like hers is rare and I am grateful from the heart. Thank you to the people who somehow manage to break through all the noise and distractions and get word of my books out there: Brian McLendon, Carol Schneider, Lisa Barnes, and Tom Perry. Thanks to Robbin Schiff for a brilliant cover, to Dana Blanchette for an equally beautiful interior design, to Dennis Ambrose for being so kind and patient, and to Bara MacNeill for a copyedit that saved me time and again from my own ignorance and dicey grasp of grammar. Thank you to Cecile Barendsma, who gets my books into the world.
Thank you to Gerry Waggett for the title we all love, as well as the research and hand-holding that get me through. Thank you to Cynthia Burkett for databases, references, recipe cards, research, and for being a sounding board of never-ending enthusiasm—but most of all for teaching me the unbelievable value of her kind of Rock of Gibraltar friendship. Thank you to Melissa Salmon, who gives me the present of her incredible talent every time we talk. Thanks to Charlie Masson, who is always there, and to Betsy Gilbert, who can always come up with a way to laugh. Thank you to Richard Simms, the genius blogger, and to Keven Haberl and Wil Perdue.
For information, education, wisdom, and advice, thank you to the following: Karen Lewis who handed me a library of treasures in a duffel bag, Rob Shaffer, consultant on kidspeak and thought; Marguerite Wood; Ruth Carpenter Pitts; Greg Miller; Sandra Okamoto; the Rev. Douglas Carpenter; the staff of the East Fishkill Library, especially Cindy Dubinsky and Carol Swierat.
For inspiration: thank you to my beloved godmother and aunt, Virginia Piccolo; Phyllis Piccolo; Mary Minnella; and Jessie O'Neil—may you all live forever. Please. Thank you to friends extraordinaire Barbara and Margaret Long, Ellie Quester, Kenya Shuchat, and Erin Clark. Special thanks to Kathy Patrick, the Pulpwood Queen—with her in my corner I can't go wrong. And of course, a huge thanks to the guys who are the glue of my life, my stepsons, Colin and Christopher Crews, and to the incomparable and gorgeous Annalisa.
And finally a hail and farewell to one of the first on my list of grand southern women who made me want to write, Margaret Garret, also known as Miss Little Sister.