Acknowledgements
To my husband Tom: Thank you for taking me away from Los Angeles and bringing me to sanity, and for always believing in me and supporting my vision. Without you, my dream of running a daycare would have remained a dream. You will always be my best friend and soul mate for life. (No more going to bed alone while I stay up writing.) I will love you forever.
To all the current families and the ones who came before: Thank you for entrusting and placing your children’s care under my guidance and for sharing their smiles and hugs which has added SO MUCH joy and love to my life.
To those who have worked at Pumpkin Patch that have since moved on but left a little piece of themselves behind: Thank you for being an intricate part of the amazing environment you’ve helped create which I am so very proud of! I am blessed to have had all of you in my and my children’s lives. I cannot express enough gratitude for all that you have given to the children that have walked through our daycare doors for the past 13 years.
To the current team at Pumpkin Patch, some of whom have been with me since the beginning… Mr. Richie, Mr. Mark, Ms. Ugaso, Ms. Kadra, Ms. Amino, Ms. Fatima, Ms. Fathiya, Ms. Mana, Ms. Megan, Ms. Kim, Ms. Amber and Ms. Pat: Every bit of what you do every day is what makes our place so great and makes it ROCK! It’s not every day a work team becomes like a second family to each other, which is what we will continue to be. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart, for all your patience, for all your gifts and mainly for truly wanting the best for every child you care for everyday. I am humbled by your passion and dedication to working with kids.
To my children Zakia, Tommy, Sophia and Christian: You have been my greatest lessons and my greatest loves, and will continue to be. Without you, daycare wouldn’t have been necessary and neither would this journey have been traveled. At the end of the day, it’s all about what we continue to give to each other that matters—unconditional love, laughter, comfort, warmth, sometimes madness, and an everlasting bond. Please always love each other as you do now… in the end, family is all that matters.
To my Editor (and sister) Ani Missakian Cole—my favorite perfectionist nut: Thank you for pouring your heart and soul into this project. You polished our rough stone into a brilliant diamond and taught me so many things in the process! You are one of my greatest teachers and I lovingly thank you for all you have brought to my life.
To my co-author Becky: WE DID IT! Thank you for continuing to push me even when I didn’t want to be pushed any further. We have come to the end of our 3-year-long dream only to wake and find it’s not a dream anymore but our new exciting reality! As much as we drove each other crazy, we also made a pretty good team and kept each other inspired—that we will always do for each other.
To my right-hand woman and Assistant director Amanda: I have learned so much from watching you work and I am so lucky to have you in my life. Thank you for always acknowledging how far we’ve come, how many anniversaries Pumpkin Patch has celebrated (you remembered even when my husband didn’t), and for continuing to always be so passionate in your work with children. We’re each other’s yin and yang. (We must be to have been able to share such a small office for almost 12 years!) Thank you for all the love and support through the years and for the wonderful friendship we formed along the way.
Finally, to Morgan James Publishing: We thank you for believing in our project as much as we did!
—Rita
First and foremost I would like to thank all of the parents that have placed their trust and faith in me and allowed me to care for their most valuable possessions, their children. Each child that I have had the privilege of caring for has taught me something, and those lessons have inspired me to teach and share life’s little learning moments with others!
Next I would like to thank our editor Ani Cole, for all of her hard work and dedication to this project. I learned many things from you about grammar, hydration, sleep, and why it’s important to eat the core of a pineapple. Although a grueling process at times, we ended up with a finished product to be proud of and for that I sincerely thank you.
And where do I begin to thank my co-author Rita? You frazzled my nerves and drove me nuts in every way humanly possible but at the end of each day you always came through and I truly appreciate that. We have pushed, inspired, consoled and encouraged each other through this long and winding process but, most importantly, we never allowed the other to give up and that’s what true friends do. We took a leap of faith together blindly into a place we had never been, and look at us now! Thanks for trusting me and jumping when I said “jump!”
Finally, thanks Kevin and Sally, you’re lifesavers!
—Becky