No man is an island, and no woman either. No matter how much we might resist, the people who surround us-either friends for life or mere acquaintances-shape who we are. People pass through our worlds and make us the people we grow to be. Sometimes, those same people even inspire us to follow our dreams. Bits and Pieces is a collection of poetry that grew over decades of Richard Pernice's career in the military and the truck-driving business. His words harken back to love found and eventually lost, as well as changes in life: going from being the child to the adult, son to father. He also admits to revealing his own monsters and fighting them into submission. Life is all about experience and not being afraid of adventure. You can't understand a book without opening its cover; you can't describe a sculpture without walking all the way around it. So it is with life. Sometimes the most important moments are found along the edges of this highway, and if we aren't careful, we'll miss them.