ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My mother, Carol Wray, is my number one fan. Her unconditional love has given me the courage to chase my passions, and ultimately, to pen this story. For that I owe her my deepest thanks. I’d also like to thank my sister, Alisha Hackinen, for being my partner in adventure, as well as my father, Laur Hackinen, for encouraging all of my foolhardy endeavours.

On the technical side, many people came together to enable me to share this journey. I would like to thank my writing mentor, Candace Savage, for helping me structure the story, and for her thoughtful critiques of early drafts. To my MFA in Writing peers, as well as my supervisor, Jeanette Lynes, thank you for your insight and feedback. I would also like to recognize the Interdisciplinary Centre for Cultural Creativity and the College of Graduate Studies and Research at the University of Saskatchewan for funding assistance. Thank you to the team from NeWest Press, especially my editor, Anne Nothof, for her close reading and attention to detail.

Finally, this story would not exist without the people that I encountered along the way. To all those that my sister and I met on our journey south, thank you for your generosity. Thank you for opening your homes (and your kitchen cupboards) to us. Thank you for sharing a brief moment of your lives, and for showing me the myriad ways to be in this world. In particular, I want to thank Jeremy Baker for teaching me how to change a flat, and Zach Newton for becoming our third musketeer. To Karen, Sam, and Kevin Cody: thank you for making me forever part of your San Diego family.