i thought my mother 's family was just about the most exotic thing i could imagine ( and later in school i used her heritage as if it were some bizarre ethnic upbringing , as if one side of my family tree was hung with hottentots , or eskimos ) , and my canuck uncles , who were all big , strapping , lumberjack men , who could hold seven or eight nieces and nephews on their backs , were the ideal of manhood with which i constantly compared my scrawny , allergic , weak wristed self ( no upper body strength , my tennis coach would later tell me ) .