Hey there – I wanted to remind you gently that if you’re so inclined, you might want to catch tonight’s etalk. It’s on CTV and I had a beautiful few minutes talking with a tearful Ben Mulroney. As I mentioned here last week, it really opened my eyes to who this man is at his heart.
 

 

 
Also, today is the day they’re airing my spot on Cityline with Tracy Moore, taped just before Tracy went on a short vacation. Since details of my press whirlwind are pretty blurry now, I’ll be interested in tuning in to see how it went!
 
Tracy’s show is where this whole book story began: forgive me if you’ve read this tale before, but it’s still pretty unbelievable. On the day of my final Casa Loma broadcast for 98.1 CHFI in Toronto, Cityline aired an interview I’d taped with Tracy just the week before. In the studio audience that day was one woman who would change my life.
 
You see, Iris Tupholme is the Senior VP of Publishing for HarperCollins Canada and she was there on a girls’ day out with her sisters. She could have been at a matinee, they could have gone shopping or to a spa. But that day she was in the Cityline audience and later that week Iris sent me an email saying, “I think you’ve got a book in you.” And here we are. So going back to visit Tracy, on the first of ten days of interviews, seemed not just fitting, but full circle. 
 

  
Lest you think I’m getting too big a head over all of this book stuff, I want to assure you that there’s always ALWAYS family to keep it real for you. Like my Dad, for example. After I told him on Friday to keep an eye out in the Globe & Mail for the weekend’s best seller list, he asked why. I said, “Because I’m number one.” 
 
Dad laughed and corrected me: “I’m pretty sure you’re number three. At least in 1962 you were….” He was referring, of course, to birth order. As I say in my book (after Dad had a hard time finding words of praise for a Blue Jays TV Father’s Day segment) I’m one of four and nothing more. And that’s okay; it’s how he has always parented and I wouldn’t expect anything else, nor would I want it!
 
I think that if, at some time in their lives, each child secretly believes they’re the favourite – and least favourite – then parents have probably done a good job. I can’t speak to the equanimity question, though, just having had the one.
 
Dad called on Saturday to let me know that he couldn’t find the best sellers’ list in the Globe. He asked me if I meant the Toronto Star, which they don’t get at his Kelowna retirement home. I clarified that, while it was also in the Star, it was definitely in the Globe, even the BC edition, and I knew it because my friend Susan had brought a copy over.
 
Turns out this is what I’m pretty sure happened: he found a previously-enjoyed copy of the paper in a lounge and went through it all, but the entire Saturday section on books was missing. Figures, huh? You screw up the nerve to brag about something to your dad and then you practically feel like you’ve lied ’cause he can’t find any evidence to back your claim! 
 
How old do you have to be before you stop trying to prove yourself to your parents? Asking for a friend. LOL
 
Have a great day and we’ll be back with you here tomorrow.