Acknowledgments

I dedicate this book and every good thing I have done or tried to do to my wife. She is the source of my strength and encouragement. She comforts me when I am down in the dumps and kicks me in the butt when I need to be motivated. I love you, Trisha!

And a boatload of thanks and appreciation to my lifelong friends Jim Ledford and Roy Stafford and my brother-in-law, Kenneth Spann, for their assistance and encouragement. Also, a heaping helping of gratitude to my editor, Deborah Froese, who epitomized the concept of “there’s no such thing as good writing, just good rewriting.”