Changing Demographics.

The 2004 summer ice cream season promised to be a very busy one. The warm weather broke early that year and I was extremely busy even before I started my summer route.

Once the hockey season ended I was back on my bike in early April. My last ride in 2003 was on the Thanksgiving weekend when I rode a 100 km jaunt up to Barrie. I won a nice chunk of change from Janine after she bet against me completing the ride. I didn’t even own a bike when I accepted her bet just three weeks before the ride and the money she loss, I used it to pay for my brand new bike.

I was already training for my next challenging long distance ride later that year in October, a 250 km ride up to Huntsville also on the Thanksgiving weekend. I knew Janine once again had her doubts about me completing such a long distance ride, but I also knew she would not bet against it. She had already learned her lesson and it had been a costly lesson. To be honest, I even had my doubts about completing the twelve hour plus ride. I have always loved setting lofty goals for myself and working hard towards achieving them. However, for this upcoming ride even I thought maybe I had bitten off a bit more than I could chew.

If there is one thing that can ruin a cyclist’s lofty goals, it is getting hit by a truck.

On May 19th I has hit from behind by a landscaping truck while out on a training ride. I was momentarily knocked unconscious, had a cracked kneecap and severe road rash on the complete left side of my body. My bike helmet was also broken; it had most likely saved me from much more serious injuries. Surprisingly, my bike was still for the most part rideable and after a couple weeks I resumed my training rides albeit at much shorter distances. Over the following months the sharp pain in my right knee lingered and it was not getting any better. I was unable to ride any long distance rides and reluctantly I put my Huntsville ride on the back burner, at least for that year anyway.

With Stephanie soon to be completing grade eight, she would be graduating from her new school after just one year. She was enjoying her new school and had made a few neighborhood friends. As well she was still keeping in touch and visiting with some of her friends from our old neighborhood. Although it had not even been a full year yet, I thought Steph had adjusted pretty well to living with Janine and me.

With Bonnie also planning to attend Stephanie’s graduation, I thought it would make for a very awkward situation considering Janine and I would also be going. I still felt so much contempt towards my ex-wife and Janine had spoken very little to Bonnie leading up to the graduation night. It ended up that the three of us were all civil towards each other and acted like adults. It actually turned out to be a pleasant evening as Bonnie, Janine and I socialized over dinner. It would also be the first and the only time that I would ever sit at the same table with two women who I had slept with.

I thought that was pretty cool and I still do.

For grade nine Stephanie would be attending high school at one of the larger schools in Mississauga. It was also one of the schools where a couple uniformed cops patrolled the hallways daily.

My how times have changed since when I went to high school. After all the shit I saw at my high schools back in Lawrence Heights, there was never anything serious enough to warrant police officers roaming the hallways. I can’t ever recall seeing cops at any of my schools while living in the Jungle, a notorious crime ridden neighborhood.

Mississauga was now becoming an even more diverse city than it already was and the demographics were changing rather quickly. I do not like change and even more so when those changes begin to make me feel like a minority within my own country. And when those newcomers to Canada refuse to assimilate with our culture and our way of life.

More than ever I knew I wanted something different, not just for myself, but for Stephanie and Janine also. I was so sick and tired of big city diversity, political correctness and I was ready for a change, but I wanted a change for the better. I had already committed to that summer being my last summer working as an owner-operator. I remember always thinking to myself; it would sure be nice if this was also my last summer living in Mississauga.

Ever since my relationship with Janine began, I had expressed to her my desire to someday move up to Huntsville. I had told Janine back on our first date that the only reason I was still living in Mississauga was to be close to my daughter. It just wasn’t feasible either financially or logistically to be living so far away from Steph while she was living with her mother. With Steph now living with us my desire to move out of Mississauga had not subsided in the least and if anything it had gotten stronger since I moved in with Janine.

I started inquiring as to what I would need to do if someday Stephanie was to attend high school up in Huntsville. I sent the school an email because I wanted to be ready if and when the three of us ever decided to make a move. I guess I got distracted, but for whatever reason I left the email open on our shared computer and walked away. Later that day Janine saw my email when she went on the computer. She was both upset and angry and she accused me of planning a move behind her back.

She now believed that the only reason I had moved in with her was to provide a home for Stephanie while I planned our move together without her. She went on and on about how I knew all along Bonnie’s timing for getting married and how I coincidentally and conveniently had moved in with her just five months earlier. She said she felt so stupid for allowing me to take advantage of her and using her for my own ulterior motives.

Blah Blah Blah.

I could understand why Janine was upset, but her hurtful words cut deep and also they were so far from the truth. I explained why I had sent the email and that my intentions all along were for the three of us to someday move up to Muskoka. I also asked Janine to explain that if what she believed was actually true then why I would go through all the trouble of buying into her house like I did. It would have been so much easier and cheaper just to use her home as a stop gap while I made my plans to move on without her.

However, I still was pissed off over Janine’s sudden rant and I did give her somewhat of an ultimatum. I told her that whether it was this summer or the next, with or without her, I would be moving to Huntsville with Stephanie. If anything, this whole episode taught me a very valuable lesson. Always remember to sign out from a shared computer.

After a few days Janine had calmed down and we were back on again. I decided I would take the three of us on a little weekend getaway up to Muskoka at Taboo Resort. Janine had not seen much of Muskoka and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to show her around.

Maybe, just maybe she too could see the day when the three of us would indeed be living my dream up in Muskoka.

Back in 2004, I truly wanted more than anything else for Janine to be part of my dream.