Beginning at a young age I had dark thoughts about death and what would come after it. I even made plans to find out.  I thought I would wait until I was eighteen, so in high school I tried to hide my darkness and depression.

Apples, cherries, plums, peaches, pears and grapes. Orchard country; beautiful Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. This is where my twin brother and I were born in 1948. Our family also included two older brothers.

I grew up in Winnipeg, and when my parents separated, as far as I knew, my life as a Christian was over. I blamed the church for not being there for me when my parents split up. I didn’t know how to deal with what life threw at me so I ran.

Life was good until I was nine. The day my father had a complete breakdown is etched in my memory forever. He would spend the next 26 years of his life, in and out of hospitals.