In 1990 I moved out of the condo that I had been living in with John. I would like to say I had finally wisened up and took a step in the right direction but it was John who finally said enough with living together. There were a lot of problems, not the least of which was my total lack of self esteem which sounds like such a cliche but I was beaten down, stressed to the max, and couldn't seem to make the move on my own even though in my heart I knew it was right. The final straw for John seemed to be the Saturday morning we came home to Heather and Jonny having had a fight, something about the phone, a message, who knows, doesn't matter. The problem didn't reside with the kids. The problems belonged solely on the adults. Once the decision was made for me, I knew it was right. I rented a 3 bedroom house on a cul-de-sac and continued to work with John on a couple of ventures, one being the provision of paramedic services at the Caroline gas plant but I was also working at Elcor Elevator. I was convinced that I could not survive and support my kids and was scared to death of failing in that regard. I was managing but the office job was temporary and I thought going into business for myself was the way to go.
I asked my Dad if I could borrow $20,000 to buy Medcom, a medical billing franchise. I remember seeing the ad and thinking how fortunate it was that I saw it the only day it was in the paper. My Dad agreed and John co-signed as being responsible for the loan as well. I had done research and believed the franchise would make money but I couldn't get it off the ground and in an effort to get an income established I bought a glass company. Glass Clinic North had financial statements and was in really good shape. I started on that full time and the customers were coming in and I was getting set up to start paying my Dad back. To make a long and sad story short, it turned out that the people who sold me the company had a body shop as well and while they owned both, they directed all of the vehicle glass replacement to Glass Clinic North and the body shop for all the body work. Once they sold the clinic to me, that stopped and I had to rely on walk in traffic. Soon it was apparent that I had to sell the clinic and get job or I was in a lot of financial trouble. I put the clinic up for sale and had a buyer pretty quick. I provided the financial information and the realtor took a $1,000 deposit from the buyer. About two weeks later I got a call that the buyer backed out and try as I might I could not get or keep the deposit (even the Real Estate Board couldn't help me).
So Medcom was going nowhere, I had lost my buyer for the clinic, and I had no choice but to declare bankruptcy in December 1990. Cheques bounced from my account, Christmas presents were pretty small that year. There was a nominal amount of child support, something in the neighbourhood of $50 per month and that stopped altogether for a year and a half but that's another story. I was able to get EI based on the employment prior to these two failed business ventures. I learned that the buyer for the clinic had come to the shop on a Saturday and talked to a glass installer that I used on weekends who owned a glass shop and they made a deal right under my nose. It was a father/son team. Father was from England, the son worked at an oil firm downtown. They bought the installers shop rather than mine. I tried to sue them in small claims court but the son was adept at not being served. I hated those two for a long time, still have the paperwork tucked away somewhere.
So EI it was, and I looked for work. Having failed at everything for the last year, I was depressed but nothing like I would be when I realized that my EI ran out three months earlier than expected. In a moment, everything changed. I had no money and no job prospects. I did something I didn't think I would ever have to do. I applied for social assistance. Embarrasing as it was. They agreed to give me $1100 a month. A month later, I received a call telling me that I was cut off of the support. I had missed a scheduled thing they put on to assist people in finding jobs and I don't know if I forgot, didn't know it was mandatory, or what exactly happened that I missed it but they were adamant. There was no child support by this time and I was out of options. Somewhere in all of this, EI determined that I was overpaid and forced me to repay about two weeks of benefits. Something to do with my start date. I had been interviewing for jobs and that is when I received a call that I was being offered the Culligan Office Manager (six-month) position. Gord knew someone who knew someone who worked there and that's how I had heard about the job.
On a side note, I was never able to repay my Dad and in fact borrowed $10,000 from my Mom as well while struggling at the Glass Clinic. This was a huge regret at the time and is still something I think about even though not a word was said when I had to add that debt to my bankruptcy papers. After Dad passed away, Mom destroyed the note that was in the safety deposit box. By that time, it involved Lynne as well since she had married John. But again, that's another story. For another time.
