Roots. Part Nine: 2011

2011 was an interesting year. I didn't do much in the way of designing but certain important things did happen so I will briefly recap this year and do it mainly with photos.

As of January, I often drove my mother an hour north of town, where my uncle and his family lives. My maternal grandmother had been diagnosed with cancer and it was terminal so I got my mom up there as often as possible (my mother is epileptic and is therefore forbidden to drive). 

March 2011 was rough. First, my son's grandfather died of emphysema. We attended the funeral and, the same night, my daughter and I boarded a night bus to NYC. A week after we came back, the family gathered at my uncle's home and we watched my grandmother die, one day before my birthday. I was working as a relocation consultant at the time and had clients in from Texas that I had to show homes to. I remember insisting on separate cars so that I could cry alone in my car, between showings. A week after that, as I was about to head off to give a tour of Montreal to another client, my daughter suddenly went from standing to lying on the floor with her eyes rolling back into her head. It was the single most terrifying experience of my life but, after days in the hospital, the doctors found nothing (we now know it's low blood pressure).

My 2011 trip to NYC was all about discovering lower Manhattan. Here is my daughter right before we entered Greenwich Village.

That March, things hit a new low with my ex. Not only was he absent at the hospital, when my daughter was there and did he not show up at my grandmother's funeral but, after telling me he was too unwell to celebrate my birthday with my friends and I, I ran into him on St-Laurent Street, healthy-looking and happy, having just gone to a photo shoot where he posed as a mod, his new thing. I'd also been receiving drunken texts at all hours of the night and it was in the spring that it got so much worse and stayed that way for months. 

In June, I wrote to him and told him I couldn't talk to him anymore. I needed space and I begged him to back off. He agreed and, for about six weeks, there was peace. 

I did so much during that summer. I went to Ottawa a few times, took my son and my sister to Quebec City for a day, competed with the dragon boat team I'd joined and spent a week in Toronto, with my cousin. 

Old Quebec:

I also went to a few small-town festivals on the West Island and generally tried to get into the car, leave town and discover as many new places as I could. I took my daughter to see the B-52's live at the Montreal Jazz Festival and took her to a few ska shows as well. This was also the year she started Rock Camp for Girls.

Here is my super stylish kid on our way to one such show. She had just turned eleven:
(Dress: French Connection, Leggings and hat: Ardène, Boots: Doc Marten's, Sweater: Unknown)

My daughter after her rock camp show:

By Halloween, a few things ended. Firstly, my ex' mother lost her battle with cancer. He went off the deep end and, in the weeks leading up to her death and in the days after, I received countless, drunken text messages. We had started seeing each other again in August but I was much more reserved about it all, now. We saw each other at a party, where he begged me stay but didn't want to communicate and during which he was not only drunk but high as a kite and denying both, as usual. When he tried to say goodbye to me, as I got into a cab at 4 a .m., I said goodbye to our mutual friend and gave him the finger without even glancing his way. I saw him two more times, once when he came over and once at a ska show and then that was it. He sent me one last, horrible, drunken text at 3 a.m. in January of 2012, telling me that he was so happy, he wanted to have his vasectomy reversed and saying, ,"You're all alone, now. Where's your soul mate? How does it feel to know that I'm so happy and you're not?!?" Lovely, no? All traces of the man I once knew and loved are gone and I guess that made it easier for me to get over him as well as I did. 

It was also around this time that I quit working as a relocation consultant and went back to working in an office, as an admin assistant. My car had sadly died and I couldn't afford a new one, given how little I'd been paid for the last year and so I became much more sedentary.

Halloween:

I finished the year in NYC, feeling strong, confident, motivated and happy.

The next Roots post will sum up last year and bring us to where I am now. I'm really looking forward to it because, after that, I can share all of the interesting things I've been up to as of late and talk about where I'm headed! 

Posted in: 2011,Ava,chelsea,edith,greenwich village,joe strummer memorial,lower east side,montreal,montreal fashion,new york,nyc,quebec city,road trip,ska,toronto