by Julie Solano
Thank you to our Moms, brothers, sisters, and close family who put up with our lame excuses and didn’t pry our secret out of us, even though we know you questioned our children on more than one occasion. Now you know why we missed Fourth of July parties, hid in our hotel rooms at swim meets, missed more than one Sunday at church, and skipped out on summer camping trips. We weren’t lying when we said we were working on a literacy project. Thank you for taking our kids and not knowing why. Once you all found out about what we were doing, you gave us the courage we needed to actually publish this. All of your sweet, encouraging texts and comments have helped us stay brave. We love you Moms. We love you too Grampie and Papa. And to our Dads; we thank you for teaching us about country living, blessing us with half of our goofy personalities, our humor, and creativity. Though you’re no longer with us, you inspire us everyday to make you proud. We wish you were here to see us reaching for the stars and making our dreams a reality. We miss you!
Thank you to our students who endured cranky, tired teachers on those nights we put in extra hours. Sometimes when an idea hits, you have to go with it. Follow our example and live the dream. No one says you can’t live a double life. Now you know why we have our horseshoe necklaces. It gave us luck on this journey. To our principal who didn’t question why we were hiding in our classrooms at all hours of the day, and to our colleagues for enduring the code talk in the hallways, out on the playground, and during collaboration meetings, we know you think we’re crazy, but we like you anyway. A special “thank you” goes to Mrs. Vianna Bailey who kept our secret and helped us with our technology. Thank you for designing our beautiful webpage and playing on our side of the court with the code talk.
To our friends, we hope you enjoy reading this book. Some of you may see similarities in your personalities, ya, it’s probably based on you. Stacey Lee, that scene when Kaitlyn flipped over the horse backward and landed on her head, well, you remember how that all went down. We had to give you a small piece of this, didn’t we? Marnia, you asked for it and we delivered. Mr. Hendryx, we couldn’t help it. You have the strongest personality of any teacher/coach we ever had! Your nicknames will live on in infamy. Thank you for being that teacher that will forever have a special place in our hearts.
Thank you to Taylor Himbert who didn’t think twice about giving us her permission to use the beautiful picture on our cover. You are an incredible photographer, and we hope to use more of your pictures in the future. Thank you to Larry Butcher for letting us use his picture on the back cover of the book. You have captured the Forks of the Salmon’s beauty like no other.
Thank you to all who are willing to pick up this book and give it a chance. We love our area, and the country life we live. Southern Oregon and Northern California is one of the most beautiful places on earth. We hope you see the true spirit of the State of Jefferson! Wait until you see what we have planned for the second book in the Seasons of Jefferson Series, The Dead of Winter.
More than anyone else on this earth, this dream would not have been possible without the support of our husbands and children. They listened to our crazy idea about writing this book and instead of laughing at us, they encouraged and supported us all the way.
A special thanks goes out to our children who kept our secret and inspired the personalities behind our characters. Thank you for willingly letting us steal your personalities, and even loaning us some of your real life experiences. Thank you for feeding us dialog when our writer’s block got the best of us. Thank you T, for being brave enough to let us put your picture on the cover. T, you know this picture shows your beauty inside and out. You are such an incredible young lady. Your personality shined through in this novel. And to that boy of yours. He knows who he is. He deserves a big thank you for inspiring some of the sweetness that made Brody the perfect novel boyfriend.
To our husbands, thank you for taking us on road trips to research the geography and sharing with us some of the local legends written into our story. Thank you for the countless four wheel rides, trail hikes, rivers, bridges, and bonfires. From the very beginning, you helped put the country in us. Also, a huge thank you for all the days you took the kids so we could work, and all the nights you had to go to bed with the light on. We love you guys more than you’ll ever know! Because of your support and belief in us, you made this dream a reality. Thank you for encouraging us to follow our dreams.
Julie Solano has lived in far Northern California, nearly her entire life. She graduated from CSU, Chico, where she majored in Psychology and minored in Child Development. She later went on to Simpson University where she obtained her multiple subject teaching credential. Julie enjoys life in the “State of Jefferson” where she lives with her husband and two children. As a family, they spend their time tromping around the Marble Mountains and Russian Wilderness. They also take pleasure in rafting, skiing, snowmobiling, off-roading, campfires, and living it up in the great outdoors. When she’s not with her family, Julie spends her days teaching next door to her co-author, fellow prankster, and partner in crime, Tracy. The most recent of their crazy adventures was to take on the challenge of writing this silly, little novel about life in their neck of the woods. They hope you have fun reading this story which was inspired by their small town, rural upbringing, and the personalities of their four children.
Born and raised in Northern California, Tracy Justice is a wife, mother, and full-time teacher. She graduated from CSU, Chico with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Liberal Arts. One of her fondest memories growing up was herding cattle in the Marble Mountains with her family. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, riding horses, running, hiking, swimming, and of course reading. After some encouragement from Julie, she decided to add “Co-author” to her ever growing bucket list. She never knew how much fun it would be to write a book with her best friend. She hopes you enjoys reading this story as much as they enjoyed writing it. Remember to visit Julie and Tracy on Facebook at JT Authors and on the web at http://jtauthors.com.
