The great E.B. White once said, “I admire anyone who has the guts to write anything at all.” Writing a book is a frightening business, and it takes a village at your back to keep pen to paper. Thank you to my sister, Ruey Stocking, and my many good friends, for their feedback and encouragement along the way. In particular, thank you to Monica Skrukwa, for her unwavering conviction that I could do this. At many points I would have quit but for her insistence.
To my mother and father, Laurel Ellison and John Stocking, for a childhood rich in experience. For the art and literature, exposure to many cultures, the nature, food, and pets. I now realize a childhood of this calibre is rare. Thank you to my lovely mother-in-law, Joan Reinhardt, who liked me from the start, and who always shows up when the going gets rough. To my Aunt Liane, writer, professor, and inspiration, thank you for your thoughtful reading of the early draft.
Thanks to Thistledown Press. I am grateful indeed to land in the capable hands of this venerable Canadian publisher. Thanks as well to my excellent editor Harriet Richards.
I wrote this book in English 598 at the University of Calgary, and arrived, a somewhat shell-shocked recovering housewife who’d lost access to her words. Providentially, the class taught by Aritha van Herk remyelinated my verbal brain, and probably made me think harder than I’ve ever thought before. Thank you Aritha, for your generous encouragement, and the rigour and dedication of your teaching. I was lucky indeed to walk into your classroom.
Thank you to Lori Hahnel, who on multiple occasions reduced my stress exponentially with her generous advice. I am but one example of her magnanimous fostering of Calgary writers. The prodigious creative hub, Alexandra Writer’s Centre, in particular classes under Robin van Eck, built my courage and fortified my portfolio. Thank you.
To my children Avery, Nathan, and Josephine, thank you for your patience with the wild ups and downs of my creative process, and your grounded, often spot on literary feedback. Thank you, Josephine, as well, for insisting I submit my painting as cover art, and for devising the title! Watching you three go forward is my greatest pride and delight.
Finally, to Paul, for putting beans on the table, keeping the roof over our heads, and all of us under it dancing. Thank you for really hearing my stories. You are my home and foundation.