Albertine (Charbonneau) Mortimer

My grandmother, Albertine (Bertha) was born on October 3, 1900 which would have made her 106 years old today. Born in Hull, Quebec, she was the 13th of 14 children (no need in mentioning that they were Catholic with those numbers) and outlived all her siblings. I am probably related to half the province of Quebec as one of her brothers alone had 10 sons.

My grandmother was the person I was closest to in all my childhood and teen years. I have endless, warm, loving and often funny memories of her. I think in many ways I draw my sense of humor and daring from her. She was the first person to teach me french although she disliked Quebec francophones immensely especially after the rise of the seperatists movement. As she would often say, "They can all go to hell." Once I was older, we had many existential conversations on God, religion and the possibility of an afterlife -- which she firmly did not believe in. Her philosophy was that our hereafter was that the moment we stopped breathing we created room on the planet for another to be born and consume the air and space we had once occupied. A very simple and finite belief.

It has been 25 years now since she died but my connection to her and the relationship we had is as strong today as when she was alive. I miss her and her deep baritone voice immensely. For my own selfish reasons, I sincerely hope there is a place where energies, who once knew one another, go to reunite. Albertine is someone I would definitely like to "see" again.