My mom, Barbara, had a life both wildly charmed and excruciatingly challenging. Hers was a life full of parties, singing, celebration, and standing up to every challenge. My mom led a courageous, grueling, determined, and hope-filled fight against a brutal disease. She had four cancers over the course of thirty years. Her first was when I was just two months old. For all the trials that cancer brought into her life, my mom did have a happily-ever-after born of laughter, devotion, and faith. And I lost her one month before my thirtieth birthday. I love her . . . I miss her . . . and I dedicate NOOK™ to my mom.