Vincent Graton has the feeling of living in a perpetual Sunday! For the actor, Sunday is a moment of downtime, a moment of introspection, family dinners, long walks in nature, stews, discussions with his children, readings and reflections.
“Sundays are not made for working, but for meeting, listening to each other, contemplating! “, he launches from the outset. “One thing I love on Sundays is when my girlfriend [France Beaudoin] play the piano. She settles down and she enters an almost meditative moment, and I have a lot of emotion each time, it touches me a lot. I watch it on Sundays and it’s beautiful. »
time suspended
“I come from a time when everything was suspended on Sundays. My father had a butcher shop that was closed on Sundays, and Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m. was a great moment of joy. We knew that the next day was a day off and we were going to meet, cook, chat. I went to mass with my father and I kept from my childhood Sundays the side of meditation, the spiritual dimension of this day, where I immerse myself in what I am. I love the Sunday morning silence, it’s extraordinary. When I was little, we went to breakfast very early in the morning, with my father, and to feel the city suspended, without noise, I still remember this incredible feeling. »
Reading
“My children sleep on Sunday mornings as does my girlfriend who works on Saturday evenings, so I get up early, put on some classical music and read. Right now, I’m reading Delphine Horvilleur, this incredible female rabbi who wrote Living with our deadI read Forests by Hélène Dorion and also Christiane Singer, A life on the edge of wonder. I always read with a pencil and I took note of this quote from Christiane Singer: “It’s incredible how far you can go motionless and it’s motionless that I’ve gone the furthest.” Sunday is that for me. It is a moment of introspection which is very strong. »
With family
“Sunday is synonymous with family, cooking and good smells that invade the house. I’ll go out for a walk with my dogs in the morning, then I’ll go home to a still sleeping house, I’ll prepare my little potatoes, the little bacon, it smells good, then we have a nice family lunch. I’m not a nostalgic person, but sometimes I have a few memories that come back and I remember when I was little, on Sundays, we made spaghetti sauce, banana bread and muffins. In the evening, we went to my grandmother Cécile’s, she made us her roast beef and her lemon pie. I kept this spirit where on Sunday, it has to smell good, and I kept dinner with the family. I receive my children, I have four of them, my two eldest have left home and the other two aged 16 and 18 are with us. The pinnacle of Sunday, for me, is preparing a stew, the children all gather around the big table with their boyfriend and their girlfriend, I sit on the rocking chair and rock my 5-month-old granddaughter. Happiness ! »
Nature
“I need nature. I’m going to walk in Mont-Saint-Bruno park or Mont Saint-Hilaire. I like to go for a walk with my children, because it’s a good time to talk, walking is conducive to good discussions. A good address is Chez Cheval in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, a café owned by Louis-François Marcotte and Patricia Paquin. When I go for a walk in the area, I stop there, I have a coffee. There are also very good sandwiches, I buy some for my picnics in nature, in the summer. »
“In presence mode”
“A very big resolution that I took three years ago is that I am no longer on social networks at all. I am in a state of mind where I put myself in presence mode. As I get older, that’s what I appreciate the most, being there for others. I am 63 years old and I am more and more aware of the passage of time, I no longer want to be in futility. I have been very active socially, I have taken a stand, I have said a lot of things and I am in a moment where I am silent, I am reading. My daughter Juliette, who is 18, is a great reader, so we go to Le Fureteur bookstore in Saint-Lambert. Another good address is Crime et gourmandise, rue Green, in Saint-Lambert. There are terrific pastries, and we like to order from Les frères Sushi, a sushi counter on Victoria Avenue in Saint-Lambert. »