The Names They Gave Us(93)

I found it on Adirondack chairs, in cups of tea, as my mother was laughing and telling the truth and dying. I found it at a camp where love falls like leaves.

And under the dreaming tree, I see a girl who can be okay and not okay all at once. So, I guess I’m just grateful to be here for all of it, for the mess and the ache and the unknowing.

After all, once there was a girl named Lucy who loved her family, old and new.

It is not the type of love that ends.





Acknowledgments

I’m ever grateful for Bethany Robison, Taylor Martindale, and Mary Kate Castellani—the three wise, thoughtful women who help me shape my stories. Never wiser or more thoughtful than with this one.

To Erica Barmash, Beth Eller, ???Jessie Gang, Cristina Gilbert, Courtney Griffin, Melissa Kavonic, Linette Kim, Cindy Loh, Donna Mark, Lizzy Mason, Linda Minton, Sally Morgridge, Emily Ritter, Claire Stetzer, Katharine Wiencke, Brett Wright, and the entire sales team: you are unparalleled. Thank you for shepherding my work into the world.

This book was an extremely collaborative process at every stage. I’m indebted to a motley crew of saints, for everything from quick questions to existential conversations, from early reads to micro-level final edits. You are appreciated beyond measure.

My sanity, too, is an extremely collaborative effort, and for that I owe my family and friends. Thank you for keeping the faith.

I’m grateful to the community of readers, to the librarians and booksellers and educators who do hard and worthy work, to the teachers who are my friends and the friends who are my teachers.

And to J, who makes it easy to believe.