Back when I was a healthy badass travelling all over the place with Reg via motorcycle
Years ago I packed up my life and moved from Toronto to Ottawa to start a new life with Reg. As we get ready to move across the country, I can not help but get nostalgic. It will be our tenth move together.
Our first move was a huge challenge. We quickly realized that a one bedroom apartment was not big enough for the two of us. Especially after my piano arrived!
This is our front hallway. The kitchen is on the far side and the living room was to the left so every time we brought food in from the kitchen we had to shimmy down the length of the piano.
We would eat on my old futon that was on top of milk crates. Oh the heat of Ottawa can be brutal and in this apartment? There was never any air, even with all the windows open.
We used every surface we could as furniture including my old trunk and Reg’s luggage since there was no storage. But back to the kitchen!
Yes, this is the front of our kitchen. Where we stored stuff. Lots and lots of stuff. It drove me crazy but I was so happy to have my first kitchen, I tried not to think about it.
I loved having a deck right off the kitchen, we spent a lot of time out there watching university students walk home from class. Every time the #5 Bus would drive by over the sewer grate our entire building shook.
But I had a kitchen! A tiny sink and we got that microwave for $5 at the Ottawa South Neighbourhood Garage Sale. It had a hole in it but it was either that or nothing. Money was so tight and life was hard but I had my own kitchen. Too bad I knew nothing about food!
We lived on Kraft Dinner and perogies for a long time. And ate out at Subway which was just down the street. A lot. I remember using Reg’s plastic blender for the first time to make asparagus soup and I thought I was so fancy. But it turned into one of the first inedible green smoothies of all time. I threw my hands up in the air and said, screw it! At this time, food was a complete frustrating mystery to me.
We did our best to make it work but when the hot water stopped in the winter and we just could not take being crushed by stuff anymore, we planned to leave. It was a beautiful apartment but we just could not make our lives squeeze into the space.
I loved the tall white cupboards that housed my Mom’s teacups and items that I had bought over the years in anticipation of finally having my first kitchen. Sadly, I did not know what to do with it.
We were so elated when we moved out. We ended up just moving around the corner to my favourite apartment ever but that was also short-lived.
This has all been on my mind as we are decluttering our lives and getting our house ready for sale. It is very painful to a) depersonalize the big house we dreamed of so someone else can buy it and b) realize that we are going to go back into squeezing into apartment living. Even if we stayed, we would lose our house so it is time to go.
At least now I know how to live a true foodie life no matter what kitchen I end up in!
Aw, Suzie! I loved seeing these old pictures. And that apartment and the colors and your piles of stuff and all of the things that were so new to you & Reg at the time…so many firsts. Thank you for sharing this!
I honor your feelings and respect you so much for letting yourself feel them. But you know? I just feel like this move and wherever your new apartment is and however you turn it in to your home, well – it is going to be magical. I’m imagining you feeling so free and unencumbered that your passion and creativity and health and love and joy come back to you like a woman on fire. There is something very special in this next stage for you two.
Thanks Tanaya! So glad you liked the post and I hope you are right. That once we move everything will transform around me. 🙂 Thanks for your support!
Messy but Beautiful. Just as life should be.
LOL, yes, very messy and beautiful!
Ohhh myyyy how I love this tour!! Awesome, exciting and perfect first apartment. I would take these memories any day over a big house to spend years and years in. I love moving from apt. to apt. and this post made my day!!
Thanks Gabrielle! I knew the gypsy in you would appreciate the big move coming up in our lives. Six years of being in the same spot is just too long for us. Even though we love our house, time for change is upon us and I’m throwing myself into the experience.
Ah, yes. I fondly remember my first apartment in Toronto. The kitchen was so tiny that if two people were in it is was crowded (thank goodness it was “open concept”), but I loved it because it was MINE.
Thank you for this peek into your history. Love it.
Sarah, I can just imagine how small that apartment was but it’s so true, when it’s yours? Magical! You are welcome, my pleasure. So happy to share and thank you for sharing about your first apartment in Toronto too!
There’s always something special about your first apartment, isn’t there? My gawd, you had it stuffed full — love that piano in the hallway, LOL! And who are those young kids hanging out in it?
It is so true Debra! Technically we did live with friends first but this was the first apartment I chose. It was so stuffed. Some days I just thought everything was going to collapse on top of me. The piano was the icing on the cake. I just had to get out of there! And those two young-ins? I have no idea who they are, LOL.
Our first posting with the military was Edmonton and we were lucky to get a PMQ, they had lot’s available at the time. I did not take many pics, I should have. It’s nice to go back and look at them.
Helene, we lived in a PMQ on Vancouver Island and I loved it! Yours probably had an ultra-small kitchen too eh? It’s true, looking back at past places is so comforting and fascinating.
I remember that apartment well 🙂 So wild to see all the old shots. Even I cooked in that kitchen! Ah, lovely memories.