By Rachel Garber
What are my roots? That depends on whether you mean where I came from, or where I'm staying. Being from "away," I've got both, in different places. Where I came from: Swiss ancestry, Mennonite country in Ontario, Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania, via Somalia, Toronto and Montreal. Where I'm staying: right here!
What keeps me here? A gene-defying sense of family.
Years ago, when a freak tornado threw our old oak tree against our house at 5:30 a.m., neighbour Gérard Tetreault was in our yard investigating damages before we had made it outside. And more neighbours gathered that day to lift the tree off and mend the hole in our roof.
Fast forward to Gérard's funeral last September, where the English-speaking Herd family was honoured for welcoming Gérard's family to the Sawyerville area two generations ago. This language-crossing sense of family seems to be the tradition, here.
Two Januarys ago, after my husband died, a troupe of nine transported a furnace from a neighbour's basement to mine. What a New Year's gift - free furnace, free transport, free installation! How to describe that squad of angels? Well, they were Baptists and Catholics and others, French- and English-speaking, some relatively new arrivals, others here for generations. All overflowing with generosity!
While the violins play softly, I offer my gratitude for the experience of becoming family, for that is what our 13 years of living in the Haut-Saint-François have been. Here's to growing roots, here's to good people, and here's to a great 2010!
Townshippers' Association hosts a FREE videoconference on Parkinson's Disease today at 1-3 p.m. at the Eaton Valley Community Learning Centre, Pope Memorial School, 523 Stokes, Bury. Info: Shannon Keenan, 819-566-5717 (1-866-566-5717), sk@townshippers.qc.ca
The Care-ring Voice Network offers FREE telephone learning sessions you can join from your home. This evening at 7 p.m.: Rita Spataro of Portage, a rehabilitation center for people having a double diagnosis of mental illness and substance dependency, will talk about the double whammy of mental illness and addiction. To participate, register in advance by calling 1-866-396-2433. Info: www.careringvoice.com
Know any recent or soon-to-be English-speaking post-secondary graduates aged 18-35 who might be interested in settling in the Haut-Saint-François? Tell them about the Make Way for YOUth project's FREE exploratory activity Friday and Saturday, Jan. 29-30. Participants will visit Weedon and Cookshire-Eaton, enjoy a traditional meal at a sugar camp, visit various agri-food producers, meet local business people, enjoy good food and see great sights. Info (be quick!): Michelle Lepitre, Make Way for YOUth/Desjardins Migration Agent, Townshippers' Association, 819-566-5717 (1-866-566-5717) or mwfy@townshippers.qc.ca
Church services Jan. 24 and 31: Anglican Church morning prayers are in Sawyerville at 9:15 a.m., Cookshire at 11 a.m. and Bury at 11 a.m. Sawyerville Baptist Church has Sunday school at 9:45 a.m. and service at 11 a.m. United Church worship, Sunday school and nursery are in Cookshire at 9:30 a.m. and at the Sawyerville Manse at 11 a.m.
Please send your news to ra.writes@gmail.com or 819-889-2520 by Jan. 25 for publication Feb. 3, or by Feb. 8 for publication Feb. 17.
