Red Lips,
Mom Hips
& Coffee Sips

Photography: Joanna Lynn Photography ~ 2017

Writing an "About Me" is not easy. How do I pick and choose the pieces of my life that molded me into the person I am or deem the milestones and memories as important enough to tell you about in this little "About Me"...Well, I often joke that I have lived nine lives, like a cat. And I really have. I will tell you about a few of those lives. In short....I'm Brooke, a single Mama of three amazing kids, working her way to make life as amazing as I believe it can be. Living through the triumphs and the heartbreak and here to tell you about it all.

I grew up in Durham and Hanover (small town Ontario) and had a relatively normal childhood and upbringing. I surrounded myself with a core group of girlfriends and we grew up together and I am still friends with most of them to this day. High School was just as traumatic and exciting as it is supposed to be. I made the honour roll and played around with my singing without taking anything too seriously. I studied Radio & Television Broadcasting at Conestoga College in Kitchener and made that city my home for the next three years while in school.

I packed a suitcase and flew to Hermosa Beach, California during the summer before my third and final year of college. I left immediately following exams and flew back home the day before school started up again. I lived in a hostel called Surf City and I had the absolute time of my life living the carefree beach bum life, broke as broke could be and I met and loved one boy (a fellow Canadian!) with all my might.  I wasn't the kind of girl he normally dated...but apparently he couldn't resist my dorky charm and meeting me and loving me was not in his plan at all. Leaving him and California definitely broke my heart.

I moved and did a college internship at the Ricki Lake Show in New York City during my third year of school. I graduated and decided to stay in New York to continue my work in Television. I ended up leaving the TV industry all together after meeting a TV Executive who needed a live in Nanny. This was a great opportunity to pay off those pesky loans I had waiting for me back home in Canada! My new best friend was a tiny little boy and my only job was to keep him safe and to love and care for him. That little boy is now a handsome young man, studying to become a lawyer. I lived just a few miles away from the World Trade Centre and to this day I remember September 11, 2001 like it was yesterday. Nearly 3000 people lost their lives in that attack. 343 of those lives lost were Firefighters. One of those Firefighters was my friend Brian Cannizzaro. I loved my New York life. I hung out with cool people. I experienced cool events. I dated a Broadway actor and got to see "Rent" about thirty times. I grew from a girl to a woman during this life.

Moving back to Canada when the little guy I nannied for entered Kindergarten was a bit of a culture shock. I found myself packing and re-packing my belongings and not really having a home base anywhere. I stayed with my Mom in Belleville, moved in with my friend in Belleville, my Dad in Mitchell, my Grandma in Hanover and another stint in the States, this time in Waco, Texas with my cousin Michele and her family. I always felt like I was chasing something but I didn't know what. I didn't know what I was chasing or where I was heading.

The opportunity came to move to Sosua, Dominican Republic when I was in my mid twenties. I didn't know a single person there and I didn't know what kind of life I was going to have. when I got there.  I got on the plane anyway. I stumbled upon a restaurant called Rocky's Blues Bar (that never had  any live Blues music actually...) and it was at Rocky's that I met the group of people that would become my Dominican family. All of these people came from different walks of life and backgrounds, were different ages and yet somehow we fit together like a finely crafted jigsaw puzzle. I still count many of these people among my closest friends, no matter how many miles separate us nearly twenty years later. During my time in Sosua, I started a condo rental business and worked at a little bar owned by a Canadian couple. I discovered a taste for Dominican Rum, especiall mojitos (much cheaper than water!) I found out first hand that no matter who caused the car accident, the white person will always be at fault and take a few bribes to avoid landing in a Dominican prison. I learned both the language of Spanish and the language of love from the same person. A person who I can still count on as one of my favourite friends in life. It was in the DR that I learned what a tough little business woman and person I could be.

While in the DR, I signed up for this new thing called Facebook, a social media outlet for people to be "friends" and share their lives with each other. I thought it would be a great way to keep in touch with my friends and family back in Canada. It was on Facebook that I was re-acquainted with someone I had known as a teenager. We had a very fast and whirlwind romance, starting with lots of internet chatting and phone calls. He took a trip to visit me in Sosua and then the decision to move home to continue the romance in Canada.

And this is where I have been ever since! That man and I bought a house, had two little girls, got married, sold that house, bought another house and then after more than a decade together, we separated. I then found myself in another relationship, experienced a heartbreaking miscarriage, then gave birth to a perfect little boy, our "Rainbow Baby". That relationship took some rather tumultuous turns and luckily also ended. I say that it is now my time to find out who I am meant to be. Life certainly takes some twists and turns and a third child at 40 is not something I ever thought was part of the plan, but I guess you can not plan life! I really didn't plan on having a baby within a doomed relationship, but I am really glad that this happy, funny and smart little guy is here!

I don't know the answers or even pretend to. I only try my best. This blog is not meant to be just entertainment for the readers. It is meant to be a sort of therapy for me and a way to look back at the road map that is tattered and torn but will ultimately bring me to exactly where I am supposed to be. I rely on my sense of humour to bring light into situations and my unwavering belief that it will all workout exactly the way it is supposed to. This blog is a way for me to be creative and to find beauty in the every day mundane and to build the belief in myself as I enter this next stage of my life.

Red Lips, Mom Hips is born and I am excited to share more about these past lives in more detail as time goes on (oh the stories I have!!) and of course this present life I am living now.

Photography: Jennifer Jacquot Photography ~ 2023
 

Brooke