For years now I’ve had a raccoon persona on twitter and I’ve never really told people why (not that anyone’s ever asked). Here’s the story behind that…

Reading starts at a young age, and since our child was born we read to them at bedtime every night. There are books that I could recite word for word without looking at the pages: Where the Wild Things Are, Are You My Mother?, The Gruffalo, and so many Sandra Boynton books. After the lights went out and our kid was still restless, I started making up stories and one story was very well received. It was a story about a grumpy Snow Monster and a rascally Raccoon.

At first Raccoon would be the cause of endless grief for Snow Monster. Raccoon would be stealing Snow Monster’s food, keeping him up all night, throwing pinecones at Snow Monster when he left his cave…Raccoon’s shenanigans were relentless.  Over time Raccoon and Snow Monster became friends, they’d go on fishing adventures, pick berries, and explore their world together.

When our child was 4 years old I found a raccoon mask at an arts and crafts store so naturally I bought it. I wore it for the whole afternoon. I wore it in Canadian Tire, I wore it through the Tim Horton’s Drive through to both the delight of our kid and the mild embarrassment of my wife.