It’s never too late to
start something new
Margaret Patricia Eaton
It’s 2007. I’m retiring after a 32-year
education career but I’m ambivalent.
Am I ready to leave a job I love? And
yet there is other work I dream about.
At age 60, if I live as long as my
mother, I have a little over one-third
of my life ahead of me and there are
opportunities to try things I didn’t have
the courage to do when I was younger.
Writing, for example. In high school I’d
dreamed of journalism, but even with
encouragement from my parents and
teacher Harvey Hanoomansingh, I lost
my nerve at university. What if I wrote
something that wasn’t very good?
Worse still, what if someone laughed at
me? Better not to try and fail. Instead
I opted for education, where as an
English teacher, librarian and guidance
counsellor I honed my writing, research
and interview / listening skills, all
journalistic tools; and so, on that June
day in 2007, when principal Lily
Adams played me out on her bagpipes,
I danced into a world of possibilities.
In 2006, I’d published my first book
Seeking Grace, narrative poems based
on my mother’s life. When I began
writing it was purely therapeutic as
I dealt with the unbearable grief I’d
felt when she’d died. I didn’t intend
to publish, but when I’d finished, it
seemed important to share her stories
and wisdom. was successful because I’d lost the self-
consciousness that had plagued me;
I’d learned to step back and let stories
tell themselves.
Margaret has been a regular contributor
to PrimeTime since December 2012.
(CREDIT: KAREN CASEY PHOTOGRAPHY) When I began freelance writing in
2009, I was mindful people were
placing their trust in me. Writing, I
know now, is not about me — it’s about
other peoples’ stories and their causes.
I see it as a sacred responsibility to
let their voices be heard, to create
awareness for important issues, and
to build community. We’re in this
together and if we don’t tell our
stories, who will? This is why local
and regional newspapers, magazines
and publishers are so important and
why PrimeTime holds a special place,
where seniors, through their stories and
actions, motivate each other.
The book met with success, readers
told me it brought comfort, and
poems from it have been selected
for anthologies: Under the Mulberry
Tree (Toronto: Quatro Books, 2014)
and 150+ Canada’s History in Poetry
(Charlottetown: Acorn Press, 2018.),
and won First Place for Poetry in the
2009 WFNB competition. I think it Margaret Patricia Eaton is the author
of Seeking Grace (2006); with artist
Angelica De Benedetti, Painted Poems
(2008) and Vision & Voice (2011) and
of over 1000 articles for publications
owned by Brunswick News Inc. and
Focus Media Group; for Atlantic Books
Today, and for PrimeTime. She is the
mother of Toronto-based actor-singer,
Tara Baxendale.
A great place to call home
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call: (506) 852-7840
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PrimeTime SPRING/PRINTEMPS 2019
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