Gloria was an Air Force brat. Her father moved the family whenever he got re-assigned. Even after he left the forces, he still moved the family frequently. Sometimes even within the same town, since he liked to be close enough to work to come home for lunch.
As I have said, Gloria was moved many times, by her father, and then by her first husband. When she finally got rid of her first husband (very justifiably so), she rented a townhouse on Baird Road. She stated that now that there was no man in her life to force a move, she wasn't moving again.
Again, as I frequently say, I told people that the only reason Gloria agreed to marry me, was that I moved into her place, and didn't make her move again. So we didn't. We stayed in that townhouse for thirty-four and a half years.
When Gloria went into hospital, the girls sat me down and asked what it would take for me to move, with their assistance, while Gloria was in hospital. I said I needed to be able to walk to the local library, and I needed internet access. "That's all?" asked Number One Daughter. "That's all," I replied.
The girls had had their eye on a place in Delta, close to Number Two Daughter. Stairs had become an issue of difficulty for Gloria in the townhouse, as it was on two levels. In addition, getting into the bathtub, for a shower, was a difficulty, as it was a problem for Gloria to step into the tub, in order to do so. The new place that the girls had found was on a single level, with a ground floor entrance, and no stairs. At least, no necessary stairs. It also had a rather large shower enclosure, which would have been perfect. The girls had gone even further, in assessing this venue. They told me that I was to look at unit 119, and also unit 105. They had eliminated all the others. I chose 105 as being most suitable, and desirable, for Gloria.
What we didn't realize, was that Gloria would rather die than move. (At least, that's what I tell people.) At any rate, Gloria never did move into the new place.
But we had, already, moved out of the Baird road townhouse. In fact, we would have had to have moved out of the Baird road townhouse eventually, regardless. The townhouse was a part of a parcel that had been packaged for redevelopment. It had in fact been sold to new owners, and we were under threat of renoviction. The new owners, wanting to get the best rental price for the townhouse, in the short time before redevelopment took place, decided to renovate every townhouse that was vacated before the redevelopment.
The manager, of the townhouse complex, was a fellow that we had known since he was three years old. His parents had moved into the complex, when he was three years old, to, themselves, take up the position as manager. His parents had managed the complex for many years. When they gave up the management of the complex, he stepped into the position.
You will notice, that he was, at this point, over thirty years old himself, and he had, in fact, lived in the complex, for pretty much all of his life that he could remember. In fact, the townhouse that he, himself, had lived in had changed. His parents, had moved townhouses, themselves, preferring a different layout. So, the one location, in all of his life, that had not changed, was our townhouse, which he had been a regular visitor to, including time when we had been babysitting himself and his sister.
He told me, after I had moved out, that being asked to renovate our townhouse, was the last straw, as far as he was concerned. He gave up the position as manager, bought a property in the interior, and moved there, to follow other pursuits. I thought this a bit of an odd reaction, until I thought back, and realized that our townhouse, had been the one consistent thing in his entire life, and our move out of it broke that consistency.
I should mention that, as well as having the same address, for all of our married life, we had the same telephone number. In fact, Gloria had had that telephone number for even longer, as she had had that telephone number, in the place where she lived before the townhouse, and brought it with her when she moved. When I moved to Delta, Telus allowed me to move that telephone number to Delta as my home phone, so I did, thereby keeping Gloria's telephone number alive. But when the girls moved me to Port Alberni, Telus would not allow me to move that number as my home phone. As a matter of fact, despite strenuous attempts, Telus was unable to provide me any services at all. However, I did, eventually, get a phone from Koodo, and, as a Telus subsidiary, was able to port that number to my cell phone. So, I still have been able to keep Gloria's phone number alive.
Previous: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2024/12/mgg-6oo-gloria-introduction-and-glorias.html
Introduction and ToC: https://fibrecookery.blogspot.com/2023/10/mgg-introduction.html
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