The Choice

My amazing colleagues and friends in the healing arts: Dr. Harold
Kolmer, Dr. Sid Zisook, Dr. Saul Levine, Steven Smith, Michael Curd,
David Woehr, Bob Kaufman (my “adopted son”), Charlie Hogue,
Patty Heffernan, and especially Phil Zimbardo, my “baby brother,”
who wouldn’t rest until he’d helped find this book a publishing home.
e many people who have invited me to bring my story to
audiences around the world, including: Howard and Henriette Peckett
of YPO; Dr. Jim Henry; Dr. Sean Daneshmand and his wife, Marjan,
of e Miracle Circle; Mike Hoge of Wingmen Ministries; and the
International Conference of Logotherapy.
My friends and healers: Gloria Lavis; Sylvia Wechter and Edy
Schroder, my treasured fellow Musketeers; Lisa Kelty; Wendy Walker;
Flora Sullivan; Katrine Gilcrest, mother of nine, who calls me Mom,
whom I can count on day and night; Dory Bitry, Shirley Godwin, and
Jeremy and Inette Forbs, with whom I can talk so openly about the
ages and stages of our lives and how to make the best out of what we
have as we age; my doctors, Sabina Wallach and Scott McCaul; my
acupuncturist, Bambi Merryweather; Marcella Grell, my companion
and friend who has taken exceptional care of me and my home for the
last sixteen years and who always tells me what she thinks right out.
Béla. Life mate. Soul mate. Father of my children. Loving,
committed partner who risked it all to build a new life with me in
America. You used to say, when I was consulting for the military and
we traveled Europe together, “Edie works, and I eat.” Béla, it was our
rich life together that was the true feast. I love you.
All of my love and gratitude to my children: my son, John Eger,
who has taught me how not to be a victim and who has never given up
the ĕght for people living with disabilities; my daughters, Marianne
Engle and Audrey ompson, who have offered me unceasing moral
support and loving comfort during the many months of writing, and
who understood, perhaps before I did, that it would be more difficult