There are so many people who have had influence in my life, and who have pointed me back to who I really am in times when I have allowed circumstance or emotion to lead me to compromise what I know is true. I wish that I could adequately pay tribute to all of them here, especially to Margaret and Lauri, since I must pick one person, I am choosing my mom. I know that it is somewhat cliché, but my mom truly was my first and very best friend.

She wasn’t a very social person, and still she taught me everything that I know about people. She understood that there is evil in this world, yet she viewed people, individually, as either heading in the right direction or as misguided missiles, meaning they weren’t inherently faulty, they were just being guided in the wrong direction.

This theme would be repeated over and …