This is one of my first photographs. My mom had bought me a camera for Christmas and I liked the shadow of the tree, the gleam off the car parked in front of our house. I was trying to connect to my new home. We moved here from Montreal and I hated Toronto. At the time I was seven years old, maybe eight. I spent 19 years in Toronto and never fit in, it always felt wrong. Sound familiar?
The only time things got better was when I went to university and studied English and Creative Writing. That felt right. I started to feel like I was getting back on track, not so lost.
Right before I graduated my friend Michelle introduced me to this guy. My future husband, Reg. She had met her future husband in Ottawa and told me that good guys do exist but I would have to come to Ottawa to find out if it was true. Oh there is so much more to the story but I don't want to take forever. I will say that Reg proposed to me five years later in the same park on the winter solstice. Have I mentioned just how lucky I am?
This is us on moving day out of our second apartment in Ottawa. I have no photos from our first apartment but let's just say that after the drug dealer downstairs got high on gasoline, filling the building with fumes and me hiding in the bathtub just in case bullets started to fly... we knew our time in that apartment was over. Don't believe me? Ask Michelle, she will confirm my story. We lived there together for a few months.
This apartment was lovely but it was a one bedroom and we did not fit. It got worse when my piano from Toronto was delivered and it fit in the front entranceway and could not be moved. Every time you would go to the washroom or the kitchen you had to shimmy around it. Also, there was never any hot water and in the winter in Ottawa, that is unforgiveable. We were more than happy to leave.
This is our third apartment and how I loved it! I had admired it on my walks through the neighbourhood the whole time we lived at our second apartment and then one day I saw that it was for rent. Uneven wobbled floors, a water pipe that would pound until Reg would go to the basement and hang on it for a while to get it to stop, no heat in the winter, no hot water... still, I would never have left it had we not been broken into. That scared the hell out of me and we lost everything. They took, everything, including our sense of safety. We moved two weeks later.
Our fourth apartment was on the 24th floor and this was our view: the Ottawa River and the Gatineau in Quebec. It was a great apartment. Very outdated and I worried about sleepwalking off the balcony but I have fond memories of living here.
We used to see wild weather and here you see remnants of a hurricane that found its way into our neck of the woods. I used to wake up laughing when the Canada geese flew by our window honking two hundred feet up in the air. I came home from work one day so relieved that even though my job sucked, I was happy to have a great home. There was a note on our front door saying they were selling our condo and we had to move. I went inside and wept.
We moved to our fifth apartment but I was done taking photos. It was on a noisy street that kept me awake all night and I had no personal connection to it. It was a place of convenience, a couple of blocks away from our last apartment. I was tired of moving around the same city over and over again while nothing really changed.
In a lot of ways, our life in Ottawa was great. Here we are at a murder mystery dinner with two strangers having a blast. There was always stuff to do in Ottawa. We loved the arts and would go to concerts, musicals and the opera all the time. We drove out to all the little towns around Ottawa and the Gatineau. By the time we got to our fifth apartment, we had felt like we had done it all. And, the weather was killing me. Half the year the cold tore my muscles apart and the other half was so hot I wanted to die.
Reg and I are explorers. The universe kept knocking us out of our nests, giving us lots of opportunities to make a big move. We knew, in our hearts, it was time for a real change.
It was time for us to leave.
9 comments:
Wow. What a time-warp! Funny, I don't remember the gasoline fumes from the first apartment but I do remember hiding in the bathtub after HEARING bullets... or what sounded intensely like them. Sad, because it really was a lovely little apartment in one of the best neighbourhoods in Ottawa.
The thing I remember most about that place is Reg burning the pot of water (and not just a little burn, we had to throw out the pot) after forgetting about it because he was on the phone long distance with YOU. And worse yet, it was a teflon pot that was giving off noxious fumes as it went up in smoke. Ah, those were the days.
I don't have photos of that place either... somehow they disappeared will all of the rest of the photos from Ottawa.
It was so long ago it seems like a different lifetime...
Thanks for bringing back memories!
I know, quite the trip eh Michelle? You don't remember the gasoline? That's when we called the cops and he went outside and mooned them. It's true, that was a fantastic apartment and we could have stayed there happily for a while.
OMG, poor Reg, he really should never be allowed in the kitchen! Yes, I take partial responsibility for the pot, LOL.
You don't have any photos either? What a shame. You lost all your Ottawa photos Michelle???!!! So sorry to hear that. I am glad I can bring some memories back. I could write about Ottawa forever, so many stories. Thanks for being such a huge part of our memories my friend!
That is crazy!! Where was that??
WOW glad to hear I'm not the only one who took a tour of Ottawa to find a place to live!!
I started off in West Kanata, went to China town, then to Orleans, then back to Lindenlea with this snotty, overly self-important woman...and then to a great house for a long time in the centre part of the city.
Years past and I had to rent it to move in with my bf, now my husband. In the meantime I had to move in with friends back in Nepean (while working downtown) as the renter wanted it "now" but I couldn't move in with BF til May.
Then back downtown with him...then we bought a house east of central lol. Where I've lived except for a 14 month stint in Toronto while on a contact (he stayed here).
So while I lived more places than you in Ottawa, I certainly moved for similar reasons in that 1 place didn't work for 1 reason or another. Or I stopped feeling safe--or I never felt safe...
We finally own our own home. A tiny little condo, but it's awesome, and to our knowledge we don't have to move for at least a few more years!
Jenn, that first apartment with Michelle was the Glebe. Second and third, Sandy Hill. Fourth and fifth, near Lincoln Fields.
Wow, you did move a lot, holy crap! So glad you finally found a condo in an area you like. We tried to buy a condo there but I couldn't commit, I just couldn't settle down in Ottawa. That was part of our decision to leave, my inability to feel OK with being there. I did love our life there in many ways and can really understand why people stay despite the crazy weather. Ottawa is beautiful, clean and has so much to do. When I found out I had fibro and knew I would never get better, I just had to get out.
What a great beginning to your adventures and your life together. Never a dull moment from what I gather from your tales, waiting in anticipation to hear more. I can't imagine so much moving, I've only ever lived in Etobicoke then on to Mississauga. Not much adventure there.
Loved your story, Suzie! I love the old photos. The one apartment you loved, I can see why, it looks great even on the outside. I lived in Ottawa for a short time and I know what you mean about the temps in the winter and summer, ouch!! Both are brutal.
Ava, nope, our lives have never been dull. Poverty, illness, constant struggle... but I wouldn't trade it for the world. After being stuck in the same place for 19 years, I never imagine moving that much either!
Thank you Angie! So glad you like the old photos, hope they weren't too dated or maybe that is just part of their charm. It's true isn't it? Ottawa weather is brutal! Makes Nova Scotia seem mild in comparison, LOL.
Oh, Reg is so adorable looking in that first photo with that little silver stripe in his hair -- did he have a pony tail or is that a bush behind him? I can see why you went for him!
And hang on to that old B & W photo you took of the tree and car -- it'll be worth big bucks some day when you're a famous photographer, eh?
I lived in Ottawa for a year about 20 years ago doing some post-grad work at the U of Ottawa. Loved the city, so much to see and do, but you're right -- brutal weather.
I know Debra! That is kind of how I knew he was the one. When I heard about the strip, it's like a bell went off. I just knew he was going to be the one. Yes, that is a ponytail, he hair was very long when we first met and so was mine!
Oh I hope my photos are worth something one day, here's to dreaming!
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