For a long time, the idea for this story lived quietly in my mind—never quite ready to become real. I carried it with me through the years, turning it over the way you might roll a pebble in your pocket: feeling its shape, wondering what it could become. After I retired, the pebble finally found a path. The story began to change—sometimes taking one direction, sometimes another—until this year, when I met the main character who truly belonged here. The moment I found them, everything started to click. Scenes appeared, connections formed, and the book began to write itself in a way that surprised me. A soilder comes back from the war and finds himself in a position to help other vets, and by doing so he finds himself as well. This book reads like a road that keeps opening up as you walk it. Most of all, I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I enjoyed taking it. Gregg Burger