Anyone who knows me or my family is aware that this has been a painful year. I do not know what we would have done, or would do, without our friends. We have spent many lovely hours this summer over dinner/s, at the beach, in various homes, accepting invitations.
So many names come crowding into my head: Crystal, Lesley, Peggy, Mary T, Mike and Stephan, Joanne, Michelle, Zach, Rod and Laura, Marg, Sheila, poking Steph, Eva and David...and on.
It was with gratitude, then, that Mary and I accepted a July 1st dinner invitation from Guy Zimmerman, who has had his own share of recent heartache and upheaval. And as you will read in the following article about Guy and his children, he harbours (odd word choice, I know) a spectacular view overlooking south/west/north Toronto.
In an entry that is supposed to be featuring Guy, I do have to say that I have never in my life experienced fireworks the way I experienced them from Guy’s 15th-floor balcony. I felt like the Friendly Giant (“Hi Rusty! Hi Jerome!”), overlooking the kingdom, dozens and dozens of colourful starbursts exploding from every possible pocket of the city. I also felt as if Sarah were standing there with us, oohing and aahing and clapping her hands.
Ultimately, however, the fireworks also serve as a metaphor for the kindness, affection and compassion – and whoa...can he cook! – we have received from Guy, who knows, because he has a compassionate heart, what it means to suffer loss.
Lifelong Renter
Suddenly single: newly divorced find renting the smart option
July 22, 2011 David Hayes
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
On a recent Monday evening, a familiar domestic scene unfolds in the apartment of Guy Zimmerman and his two children, 15-year-old Adam and 11-year-old Samantha.
Adam, who bears a striking resemblance to Justin Bieber (before the pop sensation’s recent transition from cool teenager to cool young adult), sits in front of a computer monitor playing “World of Warcraft.” Samantha, as befits her stated ambition to become a marine biologist, is in her bedroom studying her tadpoles that will, when they become frogs, be transferred to a suitable environment in a fish tank.
And Zimmerman is in the narrow galley kitchen making dinner. Tonight it’s sweet and sour ham with scalloped potatoes (Samantha’s request; it’s a favourite of hers) and vegetables. “Almost ready,” he yells to the kids. “I’m down to the short strokes.”
An involved dad, Zimmerman, 51, works as a preservation officer in the Heritage Preservation Services department of the city’s planning department. He’s also symbolic of a phenomenon common in our culture: those who, in middle age, have come out of marriages into a new reality of fresh starts, shared custody and, often, making the transition from homeowner to renter.
Today, in Canada, four in 10 first marriages end in divorce, according to a 2010 study by the Vanier Institute of the Family. Statistics Canada supports this finding, predicting that approximately 38 per cent of all marriages that took place in 2004 will end in divorce by 2035. Anecdotally, there are few of us who don’t have close friends or family members whose marriages dissolved. This usually leaves at least one spouse looking for new accommodation — often until a family home is sold — and renting is most often the choice, at least temporarily.
“I’m no longer a landowner now,” says Zimmerman. “But then again, I remember when I bought the house I thought, I’m no longer a renter, this is going to be a real commitment, do I want to invest so much of my time and energy into a house?”
Zimmerman studied architecture at the University of Toronto and then did an interdisciplinary program at the University of British Columbia that combined engineering, sociology, art history and landscape architecture. In 1984, he moved to Halifax to complete a BA in environmental design studies at the Technical University of Nova Scotia (now part of Dalhousie) and, a year later, completed a certificate in architectural technology at Ryerson University.
He and his former wife once lived in Little Italy in an apartment that was kitty-corner to Café Diplomatico. When Adam was born in 1996, the couple bought a house in the South Hillcrest neighbourhood, a few blocks south of St. Clair St. W. It was a duplex, so for the first five years they had tenants on the main floor and in the basement. During that time, the couple both operated businesses out of the home: Zimmerman did architectural renderings and editorial illustrations; his wife ran a nanny placement service. Eventually Zimmerman restored the house to a single-family dwelling, redoing the roof, installing a custom bathroom, and making a curvy countertop for the kitchen. He also took a full-time job with the city in 2001.
When the marriage ended three years ago, Zimmerman and the children stayed in the house until it was put on the market in March. The closing was last month, but by then Zimmerman had found his new rental home: a $1,275-a-month, 1,000-square-foot unit on the 15th floor of a highrise not far from St. Clair and Bathurst and close to the childrens’ schools.
Windows stretch along the west side of the unit providing a breathtaking view — the ledge is home to dozens of Zimmerman’s knickknacks, including old glass bottles that reflect the light — and there is a small balcony off the northwest corner of the living room. When the kids are over, Zimmerman sleeps in the living room on a single mattress.
“I wanted to rent because I wasn’t ready to commit to any place unless I knew where I wanted to live and if I wanted to buy again,” says Zimmerman. “I wanted to regroup, figure out what to do next. I wanted to simplify my life and enjoy time with my children.”
Like the architect that he is, Zimmerman created a scale model of the apartment out of Styrofoam to help plan the move. “A huge step was the transition from a five-bedroom house with a backyard and basement to a two-bedroom apartment,” he says. “The model was necessary so I could figure out what furniture to keep, donate or throw out. And it was nice to get excited about a new space and to get Adam and Sam involved in how it would be arranged.”
When I ask Samantha if she likes the new apartment, she says, “Y-e-a-h!” although she’s more excited to tell me about her business, “Earrings for Animals” (fionaandsamsearrings.yolasite.com). As her dad proudly watches, she explains that proceeds from the earrings that she and her friend Fiona make go to charities helping endangered animals.
Dinner is ready. One advantage of the apartment was having a dining area that would accommodate the seven-foot-long wooden table that Zimmerman picked up years ago when he worked for a contract furniture manufacturer. As we gather around it, I ask Adam whether he likes the apartment.
“Yeah, I like the smaller space,” he says thoughtfully. “We can all talk to each other. And I love the view.”
David Hayes is an author and award-winning feature writer who has been a renter most of his life. If you have stories or information to share about renting, he can be reached at lifelong_renter@sympatico.ca.
To see the terrific photo of this wonderful family or to read the story online go to http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/realestate/article/1029283--suddenly-single-newly-divorced-find-renting-the-smart-option
