Witnessing the last miles of his mother and the first steps of a child nicknamed baby wolf in his family, Alain Labonté chose to slow down. A true dynamo of the Quebec cultural industry, the press officer and author testifies in his new book, Three seasons and a skylightthe time it takes to serve as a transmission belt between generations.
Eyes overflowing with serenity, he says he is privileged to witness the winter of a woman who gave him life and the spring of the youngest in their line. “It brings me back to the fact that life is a spinning wheel”, says the man caught in the air for an interview between his return from a stay in Senegal and the first of a series of launches planned in different cities of Quebec . “While, slowly, I will take my mother’s place, baby-wolf will take mine,” he adds. This book is a story of the transmission of words and gestures, those that I received from my parents and my grandparents. »
It is also, above all, a delicate tribute to his mother, Thérèse, a universal Quebec woman. “My mother comes from a generation where women forgot themselves,” he explains. They served the family, the clergy and their community. How many times did people call my mother for help, when my parents had a farm and worked very hard? Yet they still said yes. »
If he considers that his mother is in the image of thousands of women, he also believes that she stands out for her immeasurable benevolence. “She always wanted to give her best, even when she was down. She told us that we were beautiful and fine, things that she may not have said to herself. »
Brighten the lives of others
Eight years after the publication of the book A soul and its hardware, the new story by Alain Labonté allows readers to understand the heartbreak felt when moving into a residence of this woman who gave him everything and to whom he would have liked to give back in turn. “At the time, I told her my door was open for her, but I suspected that was the wrong thing. I lived in Montreal. She didn’t know anyone here. I worked like crazy. She would have been alone. »
With his loved ones, he therefore crossed this stage of life dreaded by so many: placing his parent. A gesture all the more confronting for someone who, at the age of 9, had the opportunity to spoon-feed his grandfather until his death. “Things have changed, but I would like to do it today. I moved more than two years ago near L’Avenir, my native village. My mother could live with us, but she has her habits and she is fine where she is. In the book, I also pay tribute to the people of his residence, the Maison du Golf. »
He also talks about the gestures he makes with his mother, such as treats and gifts offered here and there, to brighten up the lives of other residents.
I witness that some people never have a visit. When you witness something, you have a responsibility. You can pretend it’s not about you, but yes, it’s about me. These people live with my mother.
Alain Labonte
These little thoughts require a sensitivity that has always inhabited those who have been involved for many moons in various social causes such as Les Impatients and the Center Philou. But it also needed time, something so rare in the schedule of a professional who has worked 60 to 70 hours a week for 42 years. “As soon as I launched my office, it went crazy! It was over my head and I loved it. Until I realized that I needed a balance in life. So I chose to slow down. »
Affirming that his professional challenges are now behind him and that his early retirement has begun, he sees his 35-hour weeks as a playground. “I’m sure I’ll write more in the coming years. Writing is a passion, but since it wasn’t my job, if I published once every 10 years, it didn’t change anything. Recently, things have changed. »
He is also one of those who say, with a little embarrassment, that the pandemic has done them good. “I don’t shout it too loud, but I loved it, the silence and not seeing anyone. I found myself face to face. In this book, my relationship to silence is even stronger than in all my others. »
Alain Labonté will be at a signing session this Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., and this Sunday from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Salon du livre de Québec.
Three seasons and a skylight
Alain Labonte
Editorial
160 pages