On July 1 the phone jangled with exciting news. It was my old friend Charles Gordon, shyly announcing that he had just become a member of the Order of Canada. I was thrilled by the message, since I was well aware of how much he deserved the honour, and of how much he would bring to the happy celebrations in Ottawa.

I took special pleasure, too, in the fact that I had been lucky enough to nominate him for the Order, backed by some other proud Gordon admirers. His many books were famous all around the country. In fact, At The Cottage: Or The Cabin, The Shack, The Lake, The Beach, or Camp (1989) is such a classic that I shamelessly persuaded him to bring out a sequel entitled Still At The Cottage in 2006. But among his many other popular books, perhaps the most significant is the 1993 response to the American books then proudly beating very loud drums about achieving excellence. Charles Gordon’s book was entitled How To Be Not Too Bad. The sub-title went into pleasing detail: “ A Canadian Guide to Superior Behaviour…. Even in Circumstances Unforeseen By Your Mother.”

The Governor General and the other Order of Canada celebrants are in for a very good time when they  clink glasses with Charlie Gordon and his happy wife Nancy. The Order of Canada will be the better for it!