Definitely not in Kansas anymore

Calgary. It’s cold. There’s fresh snow here. Everything is white. I’m picked up at the airport by a registered nurse who is driving a white car. We head towards the city where the concrete Calgary Tower doesn’t seem so tall anymore next to its glittering glass and steel high-rise neighbours. We wind around the Bow River, past the beautiful arched Louise Bridge and before I know it I’m on the campaign trail. This registered nurse has purpose and energy to burn. She warns me not to be shy with her. After all, she’s bathed me, washed my hair, wiped my bum.

Janice was my babysitter when I was a small child and she’s running as the Liberal candidate for Calgary West. She talks about the liberal platform, how it dovetails with her concerns to ensure higher education is affordable, and protect and improve health care, particularly for seniors. I feel at my best, she says, when I’m out talking to people about what matters to them.

She introduces me to Donna Morrissey’s writing and suggests I might like Kit’s Law. A novel set in an isolated outport in Newfoundland, that follows the lives of Kit and Josie and Lizzie. Forthright and feisty characters. It’s April 14. Happy birthday Mom.

 

 

 

On April 14, the Let’s See How Far This Car Can Go book tour begins. An old-fashioned, road trip book tour in celebration of readers and bookstores, small cities and big towns, the overworked and the underemployed, whores, registered nurses, and the publication of I’m a Registered Nurse Not a Whore.

The trip is in honour of my mom, who quietly passed away, in Vancouver, just as the crazy celebrations of the 2010 Winter Olympics were about to commence. It was a few days later that I received a publishing offer from Insomniac Press for I’m a Registered Nurse Not a Whore. This is my way of sharing the book with her. I’ll be touring the country in her 89 Mustang. And as far as the old Mustang wants to go — is as far as the tour goes. With a little luck and a big engine that could, we just might make it from the sunshine coast to the Rock. Hope to see you en route.