A translation by Judith Turcotte.
A new year has begun and I take this opportunity in wishing you all a good year and good health. For me, it is a critical year. In August I will be celebrating my eightieth birthday. Who would have believed it? My health is good even if age is creeping up: pickle and jam jars are more difficult to open and I now appreciate stair railings.
Family
Everyone ages. My children are well and approaching fifty. I enjoy seeing my four grandchildren growing up. The eldest is now twenty-two years old and has just completed a year of personal development in Argentina. She is a student at McGill while her brother is at Concordia. The two others are younger; I enjoy listening to them discussing their choice of the universities they will attend. My wife, Judith enjoys teaching French and English at Maison Desaulniers. She publishes her own blogs and translates mine.
The St. Lawrence River
For my part, I keep busy writing my blogs on the St. Lawrence River. More than fifty have been published on my website (louismichelgratton.com). These blogs will, one day, become a book. My objective is to surprise my readers with aspects of the river they ignore and that aroused my curiosity during my research. I hesitated for a long time before launching into this project for fear of not being taken seriously. I have neither the expertise in environment, aquatic zoology or geography. I am only a concerned citizen who gave himself the right to write on the St. Lawrence River. I conquered my imposter syndrome.
A New Novel
I am working on my fifth novel which recounts the adventures of a man who sees his prior life disappearing at the age of sixty. His wife has passed away, his children have left home and he has left his employment at a bank after thirty-five years. He is giving himself three objectives towards the creation of a new chapter in his life: a relocation, a friendship with benefits and self-employment that will ensure a certain freedom. The events are going to develop in unanticipated directions. The type of novel that only an individual with a long-life experience can allow himself to write.
Social Networks
In the past, my interventions on social media have limited themselves to announcing the publications of my blogs on the St. Lawrence River. I intend to be more active this year. I have a few thousand friends on Facebook. Many of the people who publish on this network spread half-truths filled with fallacious inaccuracies when they are not falsehoods. It is easy to understand that these writers indulge in rage bait. I have no intention of falling into their trap even if it is tempting.
I am a baby boomer. I was born in 1946, the first year of the baby boomers, a generation that tends to disappear from the social networks and the media except for a few individuals. Their backgrounds and point of view remain important and I intend to offer my two cents worth as a member of the generation at the origin of the Quiet Revolution, a moment so important in the history of Québec.