Born in a lull between winter blizzards, Edmonton, Alberta, 1951. Dad took us down to the river bank one Scotch Mist Sunday and I wrote my name in sand. I wondered if it would still be there next week. Looking at the smooth sandbank my heart sunk. Looking up it lifted as I saw a red and yellow X painted high on the bridge's buttress. That's what I'll do, I said to myself, when I grow up.