2013

Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I will come out looking like an asshole. This is not about making myself look like a victim or some kind of martyr. Truth bombs apply to everyone, including me.

After the Italian and I met, things moved rather quickly. I was never one to date multiple people at once or even one person casually, so it was a-ok by me that he wanted us to be exclusive right away. We did everything together. Movies, dinners, sight seeing. You name it. I got to know his children and for the first little while, his children and I got along great. I didn’t try to be a ‘mother figure’ and why would I. They have a mother – such as she is. Then I really got to know his children. I got to know how selfish the one is and how needy the other one is. The girl child only wanted stuff. Buy me this and buy me that. The boy child didn’t want to leave his mommy’s teat.

By mid 2013, the Italian and I decided that we wanted to live together. He suggested a move to the house where he grew up. We would live there for two years while saving up for our own place. To be clear, we would be living with his mother. His boundary challenged, overbearing, controlling, bedroom right beside ours, mother. To add more context, the Italian told me that years ago his older bro purchased a motorcycle and proudly drove it home. The next day he found it in the driveway with the tires slashed. His mother had slashed the tires because she didn’t want him driving it. The older bro was in his mid 20s at the time.

Anyways, cut to July 2013. I had already started to move my things to the house and stored most of it in the basement in plastic bins and reusable bags. That’s when the storm hit the city. Widespread flooding. The downtown core was a mess. Underpasses were flooded and any vehicles that happened to be stopped under bridges were quickly submerged. Water was gushing/spewing out of sewer grates. I thought it was crazy to be sure but I was still in my apartment and thought my belongings were safe at the house. Nope. The basement was flooded with raw sewage. My belongings in the plastic bins were ok but most of my the items that were in the bags were ruined. Books that were gifts and included personal notes written in the jackets. My cd’s – I had over 350 cd’s – over $7,000 worth of music gone.

The Italian was on his way back from work and was stuck in traffic because the route he took was blocked by the flooding. His phone battery was dying but he texted me to let me know he was fine. Then I received a text from the girl child asking if I knew where her father was. I was so touched that she cared so much to think of her dad and texted me when she couldn’t reach him. I told her not to worry, that her dad was ok and just stuck in traffic. Wow, was I in for a rude awakening. Her reply was something like “sure but are we still going shopping tomorrow?” She was more concerned about being able to spend her father’s money than she was about her father.

I moved in at the end of August 2013 but all my furniture and everything that was saved from the basement was stored in the garage.

The mother-in-law insisted on having the older Bro, who is in construction, complete the repairs. But, since he lives/works about an hour away he could only do the work on the house on weekends. . It took almost a year to get the basement cleaned up and fixed.

The rest of 2013 and into 2014 was pretty shitty.