Bird (27 page)

Additional thanks go to Timothy Smith, Kathy Kearns, Emma Ledbetter, Quinn Mark Steiner, Bill Goldberg, Jennifer Newton, Esther Hershenhorn, Bob Raccuglia, Karen Bruno, Thomas Lynch, Amy Zajakowski-Uhll, Judith Ierulli, Erica Hornthal, Roseanne Lindsay, Gayle Rosengren, and Darcy Pattison; the community at St. Gertrude's Parish, who held me when I needed it most; and to anyone I might have forgotten to mention. Thanks to Molly Jaffa and Melissa Sarver, who found the passion in this book and multiplied it across the globe. To the librarians and staff at the Rogers Park branch of the Chicago Public Library, I thank you. Also, a special thanks goes to my family, for being the birthplace of all these stories. And finally, to God, the ineffable, the mysterious, the one who must be pursued.