My agent, Ed Knappman, of New England Publishing Associates, for his patience and sage advice; my brother, Paul Maravelas, who skillfully edited the first draft; Karen Engelsen, for her staggering literary skills and irreverence; Nancy Clemens, for her witty poems and prose; the graphic talents of Mary Lysne, Eric at HolmDigital.com, and the Sketch Pad; Laurie Dunn, for her significant research abilities; Jim Stein for countless hours of unbilled advice; Rob Tracy, Mike Bates, John Shade, and Mark Morgan, for sharing their expertise and feedback; AJ Myers and Brian Taylor, for their skill and creativity at Web design.

Karen Borre, who put three copies of the first draft in a vault; Rod Sando and Brian Stenquist, who realized the power of these ideas, and invited me to Alaska; Terry Weight and Alan Winlow, who sponsored me at British Deming Association Conference on multiple occasions; the Mauve Weight, Jon Norrie, and Lynn Parsley families, who opened their homes and hearts; Judy and Virgil Vinz and their countless acts of neighborly love.

My outrageous Greek family, siblings, aunties, nieces, and cousins, including my “adopted” sister, Magda, and treasured friends Fran VanBockel, Mary Butler, Margaret Kloster, Charlotte Mardell, Bob Howell, Pam Sheldon, David Barrymore, Maggie Capocasa, Greg Lee, Alexis Bighley, Cindy Browne, and Joyce and Emma Quarnstrom, for their unconditional love. The Andersen family, who have lovingly cared for Ben and forgave me the time I left Katherine at school.

The first trainers, Sue EckMaahs, Chris Burkett, Dean Bondhus, Sonja Gidlow, Shawna Egan, Tom Jacobs, and Michael Blanch.

Chris Bache, Tracy Howard, and Penba Tashi, for their wisdom and compassion in Tibet and my tent mate, Mary Tribble, for her infectious laugh and abundant joy.

And finally, my appreciation goes out to those at Career Press who helped this book find its way to print, including Mike Lewis, Michael Pye, Kristen Parkes, and Chris Carolei.