Thank you to early readers and friends who lent support in one way or another over this journey: Chris Iafolla, Jennifer Eastman Carter, Josie Doak, Sarah Dill, Meghan Clemm, Anna Tuttle Delia, Wendy Paine Miller, Alexandra Nesbeda, Caitlin Dalton, Wendy Huang, Jackie Crawley, Meg Bauer, Annmarie Sirotnak, Tessa Kramer, Kirsten Liston, the Friedman, Mantel, and Pink families, my UCONN residency “family,” Andy and Bethany Needham, Anna Child, Sarah Hoover Sachs, Henry Clay Conner IV, and Susanne Thannhuber.
I’m so grateful to be part of The Swanky Seventeens. Special thanks to Anna Priemaza, Stephanie Garber, and Kayla Olson, for your incredible enthusiasm for this book and for your friendship.
To the people at Love146 and especially the children you serve, thank you for teaching me to find hope and courage amidst darkness.
To the Evansville, Hong Kong, Tokyo/ASIJ, Indianapolis, Tufts, greater Massachusetts, West Hartford, and San Francisco crews: I wish I could list every one of you. Thank you for your friendship and for making life so beautiful.
To He who can do more than all we ask or imagine: You are the finishing word, and the finishing word is love.