Preface - written by Erin Linn McMullan

The first time I heard Ursula Banke read her captivating memoir, I was intrigued by the idea of the omniscient and loving grandmother watching over her granddaughter’s life. It seemed such a unique voice and perspective from which to tell Ursula’s own story as well as her family history. That her grandmother, “Iffi” never met her grandchild invested this story with a special magic.

It is not surprising then that Ursula pursues a dream sparked by the prediction of a fortune-teller, who, while in a trance, says she will someday marry a sailor, have five children and live beside a big forest in a cabin surrounded by a picket fence. She is promised, “You will live a life of great hope.”

In the process, she discovers that you can make your own happiness. Living off-grid on remote Beck Island, outside Tofino on Vancouver Island’s west coast, Ursula and her husband find the perfect home to raise their family.