The hero of this book was working in a coal mine at age twelve. Despite his lack of education, he pulled himself up to become a highly successful businessman. There is something quintessentially heroic about defying the hopeless hand one was dealt . . . and turning it into straight aces. The fact that our hero John lost it all on another gamble just makes him more truly human and fragile. "From pride, from greed, he fell anew; by woman's wiles was pierced through. Like Icarus, he flew too high and tried too hard to touch the sky."

"Just a word before I sleep. You will be my eternal guiding stars. Let there be no wasted tears or regrets. They would only damage the so-delicate wings of all those wonderful butterflies." With these last written words, Ida tried to ensure we would continue our family life without her as wife and mother. For her, butterfly wings were the symbol of the almost magic and utterly fragile connections we make among each other as family members and as close friends throughout our lives. Such connections can, she felt, be made, perfected, broken or damaged in so many ways as we navigate perilously...