In this Author’s Note, Mitch Albom thanks those who helped write the book and clarifies that, while all the conversations and events mentioned in the book did take place, he has modified the timeline in some cases for narrative purposes.

In early 2000, 82-year-old Rabbi Albert Lewis, or “the Reb,” asks the author, writer Mitch Albom, to give his eulogy when he dies.

A different character and point of view is then introduced. In an unspecified past timeline, a man named Henry Covington hid behind a trash can with his wife and daughter. He promised to spend the rest of his life in Christian service if he survived the night.

In 1965, Albom’s father dropped him off at Sunday services, where the seven-year-old boy was intimidated by the Reb’s dramatic sermon.