I always knew The Colors of the Rain would eventually be published, though it was a long and winding road that led to this book in your hands. Countless rejections, countless revisions, and countless people lead to a book’s birth into the world. I’m so grateful that I don’t have to walk this road alone.
Thank you, first and foremost, to my amazing husband, Ben, for taking the kids swimming or to the park or for just simply cooking dinner, even though it’s not your night to cook, when I descend the stairs with that spacey look and say in a dream-like voice, “I think I need to write something down real quick.” Sorry that “real quick” usually means a couple of hours later. Thank you for all you do to help me live my dream. Thank you for crying with me when I don’t know if I deserve this and for reminding me I am worthy. Thank you for your transformational love.
To my sons, Jadon, Asa, Hosea, Zadok, Boaz, and Asher—your creativity, your inspiration, your witty comments, your wonder, your joy, and your hope—they are all life-giving to me. I love you so very much.
Mom: Thank you for always believing in me and nurturing my love of both reading and writing. Thank you for keeping pencils in stock and stapling my “books” together when I was a little girl. And thank you for keeping them all.
Kervin: Thank you for adopting us as your children.
Aunt Lynette: Thank you for buying me my first writing book when I was eight. I still have it on one of my shelves.
Ashley and Jarrod: Thank you for teaching me what it means to be a sister and for sticking with me through hell and high water. You’re the best siblings I could ever imagine.
Helen Montoya Henrichs: Thank you for contributing stunning photographs that helped build Paulie’s story at its beginning. I am lucky to call you not only our family documentarian, but also a friend. While this story looks much different than it did in our collaborative days, you are part of its foundation. Thank you for your contribution.
Rena Rossner: Thank you for taking a chance on a cold query, for falling in love with Paulie’s story and understanding just what I wanted to do with it, and for pushing me to cut and rewrite and shape it into a better book than it might have been without you. You are a master at what you do, and I’m so thankful to have such a fierce, determined, practical agent.
Sonali Fry: Thank you so very much for choosing to share Paulie’s story, for seeing its potential, for shaping it into what it’s become. Thank you for asking about my family, for your compassion that often made me cry (though you couldn’t see it across cyberspace), for caring enough to say, “No rush, whenever you can.” I am so thankful to have an editor like you.
Nic Stone: Thank you for reading an early version of this story and making some helpful suggestions. Your time is so very much appreciated.
Chris Silas Neal: Thank you for the most perfect cover of my book that I could possibly have envisioned for it—so perfect, in fact, that I cried the first time I saw it. You are amazingly gifted at what you do, and I am so honored to have a piece of your art living forever on my book.
Thank you to the entire team at Yellow Jacket: David DeWitt, Dave Barrett, Gayley Avery, and Nadia Almahdi. You have truly brought this book to life, and I will be eternally grateful for your hard work and dedication.