There is a time for everything – April 2006 introduced us to the grief therapy of Pringle Bay. Friday evening 23 September 2005 at precisely 19:05 our lives, as we lived it, came to an end. We died. How does one deal with the death of a child. There is no ‘user guide’, there are no rules……..
Jy word verplaas na ‘n nuwe dimensie – ‘n onwerklike bestaan, waarin jy verwyder staan van die hede en almal om jou vreemdelinge word.
C.S Lewis – A Grief Observed – remarks as follows in the very first paragraph of his book: “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing.”
Ons gemeenskap van meer as twee dekades het ‘n vreemde planeet geword. Ons het vreemdelinge geword. Ons wou ontsnap – van ontmoeting, oogkontak, retoriese meelewing uit onkunde, kommentaar sonder jurisdiksie.
Vroeg in 2006 kom Pringlebaai oor ons pad met ‘n advertensie vir die verkoop van ‘n klein cottage. Nog nooit daar gewees nie, maar kom ons gaan kyk. Ek, Rosemarie en Rozanne, boeta is in Engeland.
Ceasarweg 1374 word deel van ons terapie.
Our hideout – were we could be away, alone and adjust to our ‘new’ lives. Renovating and building our new den. To hammer away, scrape off old paint, sand, repaint and cry through intense pain and sadness became our catalist towards acceptance of that which we could not undo and where the only way was through.
Pringle het soos mos aan ons gegroei en ‘n kombersie van troos om ons kom vou deur die winter. Nella was by ons – in die wolke oor Hangklip se kop, in die swiep van die Suid-Oos op die strand, in die sand tussen jou tone, die klipbokkie op die koppie agter die huis, die tol en blombosse se uitbundigheid en die Safari Sunset se Kersfeesmooi.
When some 7 years later we decided that it was perhaps time to move on and venture into the world to do other things, the unexpected quick selling of 1374 Caesar took us a bit off guard! When walking on the beach the last few times before saying goodbye and having just been joined by our new canine kid Emma, we suddenly realised that we have so grown into Pringle that leaving was easier said than done!
Let’s stay! Then came 565 Clarence! Magic setting next to the nature reserve! Another 5 years of bliss! Hearts were lighter and friendships grew. Pringle’s therapy. The rough edges of the stone in the heart wearing off slightly…..
Alas, there is a time for everything…..
It is time to really move on and write a new chapter. Time to explore a bigger world. Pringle will be dearly missed for many reasons – the healing, the sunsets, the locals, the memorable kuiers with family and dear friends, the best ever retirement farewell and Emma’s passion for the beach!
“All reality is iconoclastic. The earthly beloved, even in this life, incessantly triumphs over your mere idea of her. And you want her to; you want her with all her resistances, all her faults, all her unexpectedness. That is, in her foursquare and independent reality.And this, not any image or memory, is what we are to love still, after she is dead.”
C S Lewis – A Grief Observed
Who knows? …… Only Time!
Safari Sunset 