Wow...so it's finally done and in print...a dream of mine since high school creative writing classes (thanks Mr. Neil C. Bonds and Ms. Joan Harrell for making me THINK).
Thanks to my parents, grandparents and family for having faith (I still miss you Grandad...every single day).
To Brennan, old buddy, thanks for helping me through a very difficult time, letting me bounce ideas off you and for laboring through that first draft with me.
I will be forever grateful to my friend Mrs. Nancy Ryle, author extraordinaire, for her encouragement, advice and support. I could only aspire to write as beautifully as you.
Thanks most of all to my wife Day to whom this book is dedicated...without a doubt my better half (how tired and cliche that sounds but how true)...who prodded, poked, and pushed me to this point. I love you Honey; you complete me (another sad cliche but oh how satisfying). I absolutely could not have done this without you. I look forward to those rocking chairs one day,
when the kids are grown and we can look at each other and say "wow, what a ride".
No author acknowledgement would be complete without the caveat that "This is a work of fiction. All errors and omissions are
mine...solely and without reservation". My purpose was to entertain and I pray you'll be gentle where I strayed from the truth or altered the facts to fit the plot.
So, I hope you like my story as much as I enjoyed writing it. I didn't intend it to be "deep" or "literary", but maybe you'll find
it to be an entertaining read. Maybe you can kick back and escape from reality for a bit, and maybe I've said one or two things that will make you reflect on life or love or the value of friendship. I hope so...I really do.