-
Mark David Gerson
a book bubble about
Acts of Surrender
Biographies & Memoirs
Author Insight
The Accidental Immigrant
It was on July 9, 1997 that, without consciously knowing what I was doing, I left my native Canada and launched into a new adventure in a new country. It would be nearly a decade before I set foot in Canada again. That single of "act of surrender" – turning south toward Minnesota instead of continuing west toward Winnipeg – would be the first of many over next ten years. In that time, I would call three U.S. states home; would marry, become a father and divorce; and would launch another open-ended road odyssey, this one lasting 30 months instead of the three that initiated my life in America.
Book Excerpt
Acts of Surrender
Sioux Narrows Provincial Park sits on one of the thousands of picturesque inlets that comprise Lake of the Woods, a vast lake system that straddles the Ontario-Minnesota border west of Thunder Bay. In the summer its shores are lushly green, and haunting loon calls from mid-lake usher in its otherwise-silent dewy mornings.
That’s what I woke to on the morning of July 9, 1997 — unknowingly, my last as a Canadian resident. As I had been doing most nights on the road when someone hadn’t offered to put me up, I had been camping. I don’t remember what drew me to this tiny park off the main road. It was about forty miles south of Route 17, the Trans-Canada Highway that had carried me west over Lake Huron and Lake Superior, the same highway I expected to travel into Manitoba. But here I was. After scribbling a few postcards, I broke camp and drove a few miles south into town to mail the cards. My plan was to return to westbound 17 and the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which was to open a few days later. Once again my car had its own plan. Without fully realizing what I was doing, I turned right instead of left out of the parking lot. My new direction was south — toward Minnesota, the United States and, unbeknownst to me, my new country.
Amazon
Barnes&Noble
GooglePlay
Apple Books
IndieBound
Kobo
Click Follow to receive emails when this author adds content on Bublish
Comment on this Bubble
Your comment and a link to this bubble will also appear in your Facebook feed.