Today I got on the cutest little airplane ...

... and flew to the cutest little airport ...

... in a cute little town in Northern B.C. How cute of a town? The Central Mountain Air check-in attendant offered to drive me to the hotel because the cab was taking too long to arrive. That's how cute.

I am currently in Dawson Creek. Tomorrow I will stand in front of SIX HUNDRED middle school students and tell them not to smoke.

Excuse me while I flash back to high school in cold sweats and seizures.

Now this will be my fourth speech as a Tobacco Free Sports Ambassador. My presentations are normally confined to the Sea to Sky region, namely Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton, and maybe some visits to Vancouver. But the representative who normally covers the Northern B.C. area had to have knee surgery and the program needed a replacement. So I jumped at the last-minute chance for a trip up to Dawson Creek and Prince George.

Yeah, so after three speeches, this should be a no-brainer. Except that I normally give my presentation to about a couple dozen grade fours, fives and sixes. Cute little pre-teens who are falling all over each other to be chosen to answer questions out loud. Cute little pre-teens who want you to autograph their posters with hearts and rainbows and smiley faces.Cute little pre-teens whose ages boast no trace of the word "teen" in them.

Last night, as I was packing up my array of coloured Sharpies and posters, I realized I didn't know how many to bring, so I sent off a quick email to the program coordinator. A return email revealed that she had neglected to inform me that my first speech would be in front of SIX HUNDRED GRADES SEVEN, EIGHT AND NINE students.

To which I replied:

Dear Janet,

When you say SIX HUNDRED GRADES SEVEN, EIGHT AND NINE students, I am assuming you mean a couple dozen grade fours, fives and sixes?

From Michelle

So, yeah. I am bringing a few extra Sharpie colours so I can make the rainbows extra colourful. Think that will make me one of the cool kids?