During a severe illness, I realized my days doing the physically demanding and intellectually challenging occupation of an emergency physician, and Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, were numbered. I needed mental stimulation, and wanted to leave behind a message that kindness, truthfulness, fair play, and personal affection mixed with daily ongoing education are still important qualities in any group of people. Hence, I used Jeremiah’s family as a group that embodies those qualities, allowing them to lead by example. And despite their many mishaps and missteps, they do carry those qualities throughout the series. We follow Jeremiah and Susanne throughout their long and useful lives as they develop into mature and then geriatric adults, and go through the various self-awakenings that normally occur in most of us.

I wanted to write a book that would provide relief and diversion from the horrible world in which we now live, a book that would provide a welcome retreat. With my rich inner life at full warp speed, I began daydreaming. Chapter nine, in which Jeremiah meets Grandma Leila, popped into my head fully formed. I wrote the book around this daydream.

The topic of overcoming adversity (autism) in a safe environment, while being a good and kind person, in a family that values education and learning, truth, fair play, and kindliness resonated with me. And that background mixed with accidentally falling into crime scenarios played well in my mind. Think upon your own life. How much of what you have become is related to happenstance and accident?