Ordinarily, the individual to whom a book will be dedicated comes to me with ease. And Ampersand was an exception.

No one person stood out. No one moment emerged as an a-ha!, and yet some entity’s gravitational pull slowly drew me into its orbit.

You. It was you and an experience we share, acknowledged or no.

Every day, an ending. Every day, a beginning. One begets the other, and we endure both, every day, as we must.

Endings are not easy. Beginnings are not easy. That they are enjoined is a further encumbrance yet.

But we need not fear—we’re never alone. Not in a beginning. Not in an end. We exist, together, on both sides of the veil separating genesis and resolution, this thousandfold cycle we brave every hour of every day.

At times, you will feel alone. I will, too. Do.

But I’m here, as are you. We were here before, and we’ll be here after.

So—

For you, before and after, always.