You already know how I became a Coyote.

But the announcement of a brand new Lindsey Buckingham solo tour has me super excited, and thinking of all my past Lindsey adventures. I mentioned one of them on Facebook the other day, and thought I’d tell the story here.

After all, it’s the day that kinda started it all. Long before I was a Coyote, I became Kooky.

In October 2014, Fleetwood Mac played Toronto. I didn’t go to this show, choosing instead to travel to Newark and Boston to see shows with friends. I did, however, trek down to Toronto anyway.

I had a mission.

In June 2010, I went to the wedding of a wonderful friend I met through Fleetwood Mac, and Lindsey. I can’t really remember why, but somewhere along the line, I bought pencil crayons and paper and sketched out a little Lindsey.

I can’t draw. At all. So I named him Badly Drawn Buckingham.

She unfortunately lost him over time, because, well, he was a piece of paper. But she’d been through a lot, and I wanted to send him back to her.

With a twist.

I’d been lucky enough to bump into Lindsey at a Toronto hotel the year before. So I figured I’d give it a shot again. When I arrived outside, though, I discovered a problem.

The Detroit Red Wings were pouring out of buses into the lobby, and a huge crowd of fanboys in hockey jerseys completely surrounded the entryway.

There was absolutely no way I could duck inside anonymously, like I usually would. The hollering fanboys had security on high alert.

I stood off to one side, looking over my shoulder, trying to form a plan.

I didn’t have very long.

Lindsey has a very distinctive walk. I can’t describe it, but I’d know it anywhere. And suddenly, I knew it was coming right towards me.

“LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM! CAN YOU SIGN THIS??”

One of the hockey fanboys was a double agent. He swung away from the crowd in time to hand Lindsey an album, which he graciously signed.

As fanboy ran back to his friends, I was just standing there, smiling sheepishly.

“Is this what you do now? Just standing on street corners? Did you get kicked out?”

“No! I don’t get kicked out,” I laughed, “I wasn’t going in there. It’s full of hockey players. And hockey groupies. And fanboys.”

“Uh-huh. What are you doing?! It’s cold!”

“I’m fine!” I was freezing, but it didn’t matter. “I never do this, and I hate to ask, but I have a favour to ask you.”

“Okayyyy, well I don’t know what I can do…”

“Oh, no no,” I said quickly, pulling a blue envelope out of my purse. “I don’t want anything…I just… I drew this for a friend, and I’m wondering if you can sign it. It’s just a joke, I have no art skill, and she’s been through a lot…”

I held out the card. He took it, held it up, looked at it over his sunglasses, read it out loud. “Of course, of course! Badly..Drawn..Buckingham. That is great.”

Sister Coyote calls it the Work Game Face. No matter what you do for a living, you have one. In this moment, I saw Lindsey’s come down. He cracked up.

Being careful to spell my friend’s name right, and taking into account the waving hand of my masterpiece, he didn’t just sign it.

He brought Badly Drawn Buckingham to life.

We chatted for a bit longer, and I mentioned I was meeting my mom nearby a little later. With a warning to go inside and warm up, he set off on a scenic walk.

I went and met my mom at the subway station, and we headed out to do some shopping. But it just so happened, the Lindsey adventures weren’t quite over.

My mom’s not a fan, but she was kind of intrigued to see this part of my world. So when I saw that distinctive walk, heading for a red light kitty-corner across the street from us, I panicked.

“Oh, shit!” I cried, stopping dead in my tracks. “Lindsey’s back and he’s right there and–do you jaywalk cause we’re gonna have to!”

We rushed across the street and walked straight up to Real Life Buckingham.

“Hi again!”

“Well hi! Oh, HI MOM!”

Yep. Lindsey Buckingham waved and said Hi Mom, adorably, to my mom. Coulda knocked me over with a feather.

“I found your kooky daughter on a street corner earlier, in the cold. Did you know this is what she does??”

“Yeah,” responded my mom, “That doesn’t surprise me.”

And just like that, I became Kooky. And also just like that, Lindsey and my mom decided to gang up on me.

They spoke about their kids, my mom mentioning how far away I moved from home. Lindsey’s kids were getting older, closer to the age where they would be flying the nest too. So he took my mom’s side.

“You moved so far away! How could you do that to your mom??”

They got along quite well, and I largely just stood back and enjoyed watching it.

Sixteen-year-old me stepped in, at one point, to remind me that there was a time I figured one day my mom would be his mother-in-law. Yeah, insert eye roll emoji here! Sixteen-year-old me made me blush, which thankfully would have just been attributed to the cold.

Why do things like that choose the worst possible moments to pop into your head? Like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. What just popped in there, KC? An old celebrity crush omg nottttt nowwww.

I shook that off, got a picture of Lindsey with my mom, and he blew us kisses as he went on his way.

Every time I’ve seen him since then, he asks after my mom. He says to tell her he says hi. That photo is her picture in my phone’s contacts. That was the first time my mom had ever heard me swear, by the way, so that has become a running joke too.

That day lives in infamy in my life for many reasons. And here I am, prepping for another Lindsey adventure, front row seats and meet and greet in Kitchener, Ontario in November.

Still Kooky after all these years.