If, like me, you were born and raised in Trail, British Columbia, part of your story was that you lived in the home of the 1939 and 1961 World Ice Hockey champions, the Trail Smoke Eaters, “one of the best senior hockey teams in Canadian history.” Life was lived in the shadow of, what was then, the world’s largest lead and zinc smelter. The collars of all sides of my family were blue.

Of course, at a more personal level, other forces shaped me – two churches, depression, OCD, music, cars, school and friends.

Deciding against taking a millwright apprenticeship on “the hill” I pursued other questions at Selkirk College, the University of Victoria, the Vancouver School of Theology and San Francisco Theological Seminary.

My real education though was not marked by academic degrees but by the circumstances of life – love, divorce, children, remarriage, church work, addiction, the start and management of a small communications business, depression, radio broadcasting, illness, leading a multi-million dollar national project, death, friendship and teaching.