To the PFLM team—Emily Sweet, Andrea Mai, Abigail Koons, Anna Petkovich, Kathryn Toolan, Jen Mecum, and Charlotte Gillies. I would not be able to do any of this without your insights. You all are invaluable, and I consider your expertise paramount to my success.
Carisa Hays and Hayley Shear, thank you for always having my back. Each and every time.
Julian Alexander, you are always such a bright spot on every Zoom! Thank you for your faith in me. And to Ailah Ahmed and the entire team at Hutchinson Heinemann, I cannot tell you what it means to have such a phenomenal, robust team behind my work in the UK.
Leo Teti, you have saved me! This book needed you, and I am so grateful to have had you in my corner.
Stuart Rosenthal and Sylvie Rabineau, thank you for being there—calm, cool, and collected—for every curveball that gets thrown our way.
Kari Erickson, I don’t think I would have gotten through 2021 without you. And I certainly wouldn’t have been able to get this book ready in time. Your insights, thoughtfulness, and conscientiousness have become indispensable. Thank you.
I wrote this book during a pandemic. And I could not have done that without the people closest to me stepping up to help with childcare. I have said it before but I don’t think I can ever say it enough: This book does not exist without my mother-in-law, Rose, and my grandmother-in-law, Sally, stepping in to spend time with my daughter. I cannot do it alone. And I do not have to. I thank you for that. Thank you to my brother, Jake, for talking me through it all, even the parts that have no easy answers.
And thank you to my peanuts. I can’t make any decisions without you all so I’m very grateful that one of you is always there, at any reasonable hour eastern time, to help me through it all.
Of course, I have never written a book without you, Alex Jenkins Reid. It’s not just because you watch our daughter. Or that you help me to remember that these things are only books, after all. It is because you also help me figure out when I should listen to what other people are telling me and when to go with my gut. It is an incredible skill, to understand when you are right and when you are wrong. You have helped me to see it as clearly as I can. And in so doing, you’ve helped me become more myself than I have ever been before.
And lastly, to Lilah. You’ve heard me talk about Carrie Soto for a while now. You’ve patiently listened to me try to figure her out. And you had a very good idea for the title of this book, which I almost used. So, I don’t know, maybe you’re a writer. But let me tell you something: You are capable of so many amazing things. I hope, as you grow older, that this gives you a sense of peace. I, for so much of my life, have had something to prove. But I think you have a real chance of knowing you don’t have to prove a single thing to anyone. If it should come to pass that you feel the need to go do something big, to go be the greatest there ever was, I will stand by you for that journey. I will be there, cheering you on, for anything you go out there and do. But just know that, to me, you showed up perfect. You don’t have to prove a single thing.