Florentia Scott

Thank you, Anna Kay, for setting this up.

That year in Bordeaux was certainly transformative for me in many ways. Things I did there and people I met set the direction for the rest of my life.

I met Jacques Janson at the "resto-u" in Bordeaux. We fell in love and decided to marry. He couldn't easily immigrate to the US; I couldn't easily immigrate to France. Jacques spoke no English. I remembered seeing in high school a film about a place in Canada where only French was spoken. It turned out to be fairly easy for both of us to immigrate to Canada. So off we went, to a land that neither of us had ever even visited. It seemed perfectly logical at the time . . .

The marriage ended after 10 years. We have two grown sons. Born in Montreal, both have now settled in California. They each have two delightful little girls. Jacques worked for a couple of French-language publishing companies, then for the Canadian government, as an editor and speechwriter. He also holds an elected position in the French government, which is enlightened enough to have seats in the legislature to represent its citizens living outside the country. We are still on cordial terms.

After a successful career in translation and public relations, I semi-retired to Vancouver Island a few years ago. I do some free-lance writing, mainly for the local newspaper. Some of my poems, short stories, and essays have also been published over the years. I spend winters in California, to be closer to my family. If I can ever figure out how to get affordable medical care in the US, I will probably move back.

I think of the people I was close to in Bordeaux from time to time, and wonder how their lives turned out. I'm not in touch with any of them at present. It would be nice to hear.

Regards to all,

Florentia Scott
(Fifth from the left in the front row)