More than two weeks after Mma has passed away, I'm slowly pulling the threads of my new life together. Traditionally in Phokeng, we pack up the deceased's stuff (clothing, shoes, linen, personal knicknacks etc) immediately after they pass away, even before the funeral. So all Mma's personal things are in storage to later go to the relevant people and the house, which is very big, feels even bigger. There's an almost emptiness to it, reflecting our lives, I suppose.
As for me, I'm planning to stay on in Phokeng for the forseeable future, though I'll probably go into Johannesburg more often. I've mentioned previously that I was selling my Joburg house? A number of friends have offered their own homes as a city base for me. So I should be able to come in as often as I like, knowing my housing is secure.
I'm also resuming my writing career. Thankfully, there is a lot of work to do - personal projects I abandoned, commissioned work and new projects from local publishers that I want to be involved with. I also did a lot of writing when I was taking care of Mma and I'm now trying to make sense of it. Some things might be publishable in there. So my days are starting to fall into a new routine, though it's still very rough at this stage.
To keep me going, I think there is a "conspiracy" going on in the village. Every morning I have two or three separate groups of people popping come visit me. Someone usually arrives early enough to wake me up (around 7am?) and we have a morning cuppa, and another person arrives soon after.
By 9am, they are all gone and so is any inclination I might have had to sleep in. I'm guessing their aim is to make sure I'm up and about, as a big chunk of what I did everyday(caring for Mma) is gone. It's very comforting.
My rough plan for this blog is to resume my regular posting, chatting about whatever projects I'm working on, as well as giving you a brief glimpse of my life here. We'll see how things progress.
I hope that you are all doing well in your own lives, careers and blogs.
1 comment:
Dear Damaria, thinking about you, looking forward to hearing more of your posts on Storypot. Writing thoughts down often creates self healing and is good therapy for us. Warm Regards, Ali
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