My new favourite book.

I've just laid down Don 🐝 Kerr's new book Riding Shotgun - A book for men and the partners they care for.

Full disclosure: I know Don and am pleased to call him my friend and fellow Beezer.

We are as different as Scotch and Soda, but we do compliment (and complement) each other quite well.

It turns out, I didn't know him as well as I thought I did.

Don's wife Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011.  Don's book chronicles his journey as caregiver. It turned into a book as a means to help other men who suddenly and frighteningly find themselves on a journey that they couldn't ever have dreamed of.

Don's book is as transparent and honest as anything I have read (and I read a lot). It is peppered with both humour and hurt.  It offers his perspective and isn't preachy at all.

One of the paragraphs that stood out to me was:

"If you were to run the gamut of human emotion, paddling down the cancer river would discover it for you. I don't recommend it, but there is much learning to be gained when one has tremendous adversity enter one's life. Even more learning occurs when you embrace the adversity as though it were a friend."
Don Kerr, Riding Shotgun pp19

In the next paragraph, Don admits "Yes, that sounds purely nuts."  But that best exemplifies the beauty of this book.

In the coming days, I will be meeting with a recent acquaintance that just discovered his wife is going through the dark journey Kate went through.

I'm passing my copy of the book along to him.

I know there's lots of wisdom in those pages.

Well done Don.

_________________________________________________________________

About the Author:

I’m the Chief Information Officer for Appleby College, in Oakville, Ontario Canada, where my team is transforming the delivery of education through innovative application of technology. I'm also a beBee Brand Ambassador.

I'm convinced that IT leadership needs to dramatically change how IT is delivered rather than being relegated to a costly overhead department.

In addition to transforming IT in my role as CIO, I look for every opportunity to talk about this... writing, speaking and now blogging on BeBee (www.bebee.com/@kevin-pashuk) , LinkedIn, ITWorld Canada, or at TurningTechInvisible.com.

I also shoot things... with my camera. Check out my photostream at www.flickr.com/photos/kwpashuk