Written by Jim Kogelheide
March 18, 2003
Kentville, Nova Scotia

I WAS BORN IN 1970, IN A COMMUNITY IN NORTHERN QUEBEC. ONE OF MY BIRTH PARENTS WAS OF NATIVE DESCENT; OFFERING ME, TRULY, CANADIAN BLOOD. AFTER MY BIRTH I WAS GIVEN TO A CHURCH ADOPTION CENTRE. I WAS THERE FOR NO MORE THAN THREE WEEKS WHEN MY MOTHER AND FATHER FOUND ME. BEFORE THIS TIME MY PARENTS HAD ALSO ADOPTED ANOTHER CHILD. MY SISTER AND I WERE NOW A PART OF A LOVING FAMILY. MY DAD WAS FINISHING HIS OBLIGATIONS WITH HIS EMPLOYER AND DURING THESE NEXT FOUR YEARS WE LIVED IN A FEW REMOTE COMMUNITIES IN NORTHERN ONTARIO. I CAN REMEMBER CELEBRATING MY FOURTH BIRTHDAY IN OUR NEWLY CONSTRUCTED HOUSE IN RURAL ONTARIO. I SPENT MY CHILDHOOD AND TEEN YEARS EXPLORING THIS AREA, AND I ALWAYS LOOK FORWARD TO MY VISITS HOME, AS MY PARENTS STILL LIVE IN THAT HOUSE. THROUGHOUT MY ELEMENTARY YEARS, I TRAVELLED BY BUS (AS DID MOST OF THE STUDENTS) TO THE SCHOOL. BECAUSE I WAS A BIT OF A FIERY STUDENT, OFTEN I WOULD SPEND TIME VISITING WITH THE PRINCIPAL. I DID WELL IN MOST CLASSES AND VERY WELL IN THE MATHEMATICS PROGRAMS. DURING MY YEARS AT HIGH SCHOOL, I FOCUSSED MY STUDIES IN MATHEMATICS ANDDRAFTING DESIGN; WHICH I CONTINUED TO PURSUE THROUGHOUT COLLEGE. AFTER GRADUATING WITH AN ARCHITECTURAL TECHNOLOGIST DIPLOMA, I FOUND MYSELF ENJOYING SOME TIME OFF IN THE MOUNTAINS OF BRITISH COLUMBIA. IT WAS IN THE WINTER OF 1991-92 WHEN I TRAVELLED BACK TO ONTARIO AND WORKED UNTIL THE FALL. IT WAS MY INTENTION TO CONTINUE MY COLLEGE EDUCATION FOCUSING ON INTERIOR DESIGN. THAT SEPTEMBER I MOVED TO LONDON, ONTARIO. THAT SEPTEMBER I MET JOANNE. THAT SEPTEMBER I BECAME INSPIRED.