YGingras^.net

It was a shock the first time a friend of mine became parent; suddenly, is wasn't all fun and games anymore. I had seen friends committing themselves to long term projects, but raising children is the kind of project that you can't relinquish when you get bored.

It was quite a shock when my brother announced that he was to have a child. My parents were delighted that their lineage would not end with my brothers and me.

Last weekend I went to Québec City for a family diner. That's when they asked me to be the godfather. What a shock!

Tony, my brother, lives with Julie, his girlfriend, in a cute little house in Deschambault, which happened to be in the middle of nowhere. They are really proud of Deschambault's authentic general store, a charming little place featuring a mini museum of old times retailing.

Tony took over the family owned garage from my parents. Now he continues the tradition of family own business with a wrecking yard that he runs with Julie next to their house in Deschambault.

"Metal is really expensive these days," he tells me. "Unless there is a real demand for its used parts, I'll send a car in whole to be melted away." They keep the cars, roughly separating aluminum and coper from steel, and send them to the furnace when the metal market is high. The yard is safe from burglary; Boing, their amazing jumping boxer, ferociously keeps intruders out.