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 light well, of the 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 flying 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 . “As I slowly 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 mom 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. »
Eight years after the publication of the book A soul and its hardware store, Alain Labonté’s new story 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 loved so much. 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 has therefore passed this stage of life dreaded by so many: placing his parent. A gesture all the more confronting for someone who, at age 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 does with his mother, such as treats and gifts offered here and there, to brighten up the lives of other residents.
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 took time, that rare thing in the schedule of a professional who has worked 60 to 70 hours a week for 42 years. “As soon as I launched my desktop, 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 pre-retirement has begun, he sees his 35-hour weeks as a playground. “I will definitely 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’m not shouting 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. »
