She is a mother, daughter, spouse, and entrepreneur. Born in the Province of Quebec, she lives on the South Shore of Montreal, Canada. Her story is tragic and inspiring. As her career as a nurse took off, her life turned upside down: Her husband was shot dead.
With two children to take care of, she had to dust herself off and move on with her life, facing every emotion to men: anger, fear, confusion…
You will be amazed by her story, and hopefully you will learn the lessons she learned. Her story is the story of every one of us: a regular person, with a regular job, whose idea of success was ingrained in her since childhood, and she was successful at it.
Overnight, everything she believed in vanished, suddenly she had to learn a new way of life.
Meet Anick, a friend, a colleague, a warrior.
Part 1
Give us an idea of your background. Where were you born?
I was born in St-Hubert, Quebec, Canada in the 1970’s. My mother worked in a daycare and my father worked as a butcher. They both came from a large family of sixteen kids and their parents were woodcutters and farmers.
We were the typical middle class family. We were not rich but we were doing ok.
Did you have brothers and sister?
I am two years older than my sister. She was born with a cardiac malformation and was sick during her entire childhood. She had open-heart surgery in 1980 when this kind of procedure was still new to the medical community.
How was the atmosphere at home? Were you a religious family?
Not at all. My father was a serious alcoholic and he entered rehab at La Maison Jean Lapointe at fifty-five years old.
We were taught not to express what we truly felt. I was told the importance of being nice, docile, obeying other people. I was also taught to say yes to everybody and to be of service at all times.
How did you meet Benoit, the father of your future children?
We grew up in the same neighborhood. We used to go to the same school and had the same group of friends. Although we weren’t as close as we be would later, we always knew each other.
When we were around seventeen, we worked as lifeguards at the same pool. We fell in love during this period.
As opposed to my family, his family was doing very well financially. Most of them worked for the police department.
That’s when the story began. Picture us what your life looked like at that time.
There are three parts to my life: before the death of my ex-husband, after it, and the reconstructive journey.
I began to work as a nurse at twenty and he worked as a police officer. I loved everything about health, I loved helping other people, and I became very spiritual, although it wasn't as developed as it is today.
Between twenty and twenty-nine years old, I had a regular life: I had a husband, I had a home, and my children were born during this period.
When you say you were spiritual, were you a Christian, a Buddhist, what do you mean?
We believed in God, we were Catholics. We read the Bible like many other people, we went to church, our children were baptized, and we studied prayers.
I was a seeker, always questioning myself and asking the big questions about life. I visualized, I meditated, I read a lot on positive thinking.
With your husband, two children, your job as a nurse and his as a police officer, you had made it, right?
Yes, we loved our life and we thought everything was perfect. We were living comfortably. Had he not died, I would still be a nurse, he would still be a police officer, and we would still lead the same kind of life.
Take us to that day. You are enjoying your accomplishments, life is perfect, then suddenly everything turns upside down.
At 7:45 that morning, we left home together for work. At ten he was shot on the job. I learned about it two hours later. The ground split and crumbled underneath my feet. I couldn’t believe it.
STAY TUNED for the second part of this exclusive story! We will go into details about the murder, how she announced it to her children, her financial struggles, and her mind-boggling emotional turmoil. Come back Thursday.
You can reach Anick: https://www.facebook.com/anick.royer?fref=ts
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