‘Ottawa’ Capital Voices: ‘I’m Happy by the Water’
In anticipation of Canada’s sesquicentennial celebrations, the Citizen’s Bruce Deachman has been out in search of Ottawans — 150 of them — to learn their stories of life and death, hope and love, obsession and fear. From Feb. 2 until Canada Day, we’ll share one person’s story every day.
“A lot of things are on my mind these days. Like, what am I doing in here? My family decided that I was getting older and that I shouldn’t be by myself. I was living just over there, near McKellar Park. I was happy there, and all of a sudden I was losing it.
“I don’t want to stay in there, that’s No. 1, so I come out here. But I’m not seeing my family, and that’s because they’re too far away.
“I go down by the water. Somehow I get there and just watch the river. And there’s a gentleman, and every time he sees me coming he runs into his place and comes out with something like a walker — something I can sit on and watch the river. He’ll sometimes sit with me a little bit — not much — and then he says, ‘I’ll be back.’ I think he just wants to be sure that I’m happy; that’s what he said to me. I’m happy by the water. I like it. Yeah, I’m OK.
“I hope it’s not Alzheimer’s. But I’m OK. I don’t remember a lot of the things that I should be remembering, and when I stop to think about it, I think, ‘To heck with it.’ I’m here, this place is looking after me.
“I had a wonderful life with my husband, Alan. We liked to go to the water, so we were always down there. He passed on.
“When I sit out here, I think that I’d like to be back in Montreal. That’s where I’m from. Notre-Dame-de-Grâce. And I’d like to see Alan. But what can we do?”
— Arlene Forse. Amica at Westboro Park, July 13, 2016.