TO FACILITATE: A QUEST FOR SERENDIPITY

By Rolland Potvin

The task that was first given me was to snoop around the local municipalities, find some people, and ask them what their thoughts were on the theme for our present edition of LE TOUR. This being: the verb TO FACILITATE. But I needed an angle. This usually makes it more interesting…I think? Anyway, the following is what happened and “D-D-D-Dats all folks.”

Jenny is young, spontaneous, and a natural redhead (which is sometimes green, other times purple, and oftentimes just multicolored something). Nineteen years of age, she was born and raised in Sutton. Jenny has just about all the traits (and more) of anyone of Irish and French descent. She also collects four-leafed clovers, interesting pieces of broken glass, empty lighters, and “God knows” what else.

Jenny is always full of surprises. Though her smile may charm you, her daring brown Irish eyes exclaim, “Go ahead: make my day!” One morning, Jenny and I happened to be working together in the kitchen of the Café International in SUTTON. Since I enjoy trying to surprise her, I just casually asked if she had ever heard the word SERENDIPITY . Suuur-prise! Suuur-prise! I had just made her day. “It's when your fate meets your destiny,” she instant-combustionally spurted out. Then Jenny went into a trance-like, arms-a-waving, fingers-a-pointing gesturing of her theory. This made me feel as if I were back in my high school trigonometry class. She explained that the path we follow in life leads to a crossing where the road to our destiny appears. And that most sublime moment is SERENDIPITY . Eureka!! I thought, she has now facilitated my task. Or has she? I now have an angle, better yet, a quest for SERENDIPITY .

With this in mind, I set up an appointment with my dear friend Neil Perkins. I needed a good example of a Monsieur Dunham and Neil was my best prospect. Listening to him speak, I could actually feel, by the expression on his face, his earnest passion for the DUNHAM region and its land. The tide of the conversation brought forward multiple waves of nostalgia. How the first Perkins arrived after the American Revolution. How they worked the land from one generation to the next. How the family, over the past two hundred years, had accumulated an encyclopedic knowledge of the area and its natural offerings. Sadly, this tradition will soon come to an end. The incentives for the present generation (the kids) to remain on the land are practically non-existent. Worse, Neil's hopes of preserving the family heritage have been battered by government rules and constraints. Having done all that he could to facilitate the transfer of his ideals to the next generation, Neil now concentrates on his role as town councilor. In his own way, he believes he can facilitate the transition to a changing municipal reality for the families of the old guard as well as the newcomers.

What happened to SERENDIPITY? … I was still searching.

Now I was on my way to ABERCORN. Visions of Woodstock began to flower in my mind. Lo and behold!! Who do I meet? Monsieur Nicholas Kempf, a mature and proven product of that blessed area. “Salut Nico, would you help me out with my article?” His sincere and natural response was: “Avec plaisir, Rolland.” Then something SERENDIPITOUS occurred. Our hobnob conversation blossomed into a stirring ode to life . Nico stated, “ For every one of us, there can be no greater priority in the Universe other than to facilitate the existence of our fellow companions. Be it our spouse, our parents, our kids, friends, acquaintances. You name it!!” He spoke with fondness and admiration of the upbringing he received from his father. “My father had a knack of rendering useful and productive anything he could put his hands on. He would turn a bush into a garden. Anything broken? He would always find a way to fix it. His resourcefulness always amazed me.” Nico is convinced that these memories, combined with the daily pleasures of residing in ABERCORN, facilitate his outlook on life.

My next stop was meant to be FRELIGHSBURG. Having mentioned this to an acquaintance, he suggested I give a call to a woman who now resides in NEW YORK but was formerly from FRELIGHSBURG. To me that sounded like a call to SERENDIPITY. After a few attempts I finally got a hold of her on her cell phone. She was sipping a café-latte at a STARBUCK'S in MANHATTAN. Her name is Gloria and she is a well-known artist-painter in that part of the world. Her tone of voice conveyed a warm heart and an inquisitive mind. It turns out that she, her late husband Michael, and their then newly born little girl Yael lived in FRELIGHSBURG for only a few years. Yet Gloria was more than pleased to converse with someone who resides in that fondly remembered region they left nearly 30 years ago. Back then she had just recently graduated from Sir George Williams University with a degree in arts and Michael had terminated his medical internship in LONDON, ENGLAND. Earning a livelihood in a big city like MONTREAL while residing in an ‘ English ghetto' was not their idea of a dream come true. So off they went to the Townships!!

A double-edged sword of adventure and apprehension hovered over their new sense of parenthood. Michael accepted an offer to practice psychiatry in COWANSVILLE while Gloria performed the standard womanly art of balancing family and career in FRELIGHSBURG. What Gloria most insisted upon in our conversation were the comprehension, the acceptance, the help and the camaraderie they received in FRELIGHSBURG. “Nothing will ever beat that. And please give my regards to the BUSSIERES family; we are forever grateful to them. At a crucial moment, this particular period had definitely facilitated our passage from one phase of our lives to another. Thank you all.”

My freewheeling spirit was now back in SUTTON. I was helping out at a benefit golf tournament when I noticed Carole who operates Net-Connect. This just felt so SERENDIPITOUS that I could not resist. A few days later we met to discuss. Quite an awakening moment when, through mutual agreement, we realized that the word FACILITATE does not have the common usage nor all the connotations that it has in the accepted French usage of “ FACILITER ”. As usual, Carole found a solution. She took 24 hours to think about it. Next morning, she gave me her answer. “About sixteen years ago, I was working as a barmaid on Prince Arthur in MONTREAL. At that time I had the responsibility of raising two very young kids, a three-year-old and a one-year-old, and this on my own. The surroundings just didn't seem to fit. I ended up in Sutton, and then the pieces came together. For all kinds of reasons, this was where we belonged. All things put together, this particular event facilitated our crossing over the bridge and on to our destiny.”

Then came Olivier Burnham. He earns his living as an artist-blacksmith. He works his muses at the junction in SUTTON JUNCTION, La Forge D'Oll. Talk about SERENDIPITY . He was born in SWITZERLAND and had never before met another Burnham until he set foot in this region, the promised land of the Burnhams . Before arriving here he had to make a heads or tails decision to choose between southern France or QUEBEC. Upon arrival he found out that the property he had purchased in the JUNCTION originally belonged to the town's first blacksmith. His closest neighbors are people who work the land. They gratefully appreciate how he facilitates their chores by helping fix whatever needs mending on their machines. In exchange he often asks and promptly gets help from the townspeople in fixing up his own place. The Swiss call this bartering. One thing led to another while Olivier philosophized as we sat on his balcony and watched the cars turn at the junction. His dream had always been to facilitate the transformation of his craftwork into art. This in turn would facilitate the awakening of more craftsmen to the tangible realm of art.

And this quest had SERENDIPITOUSLY ended at a junction.