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How memories live in physical spaces

I am reminded, again, of how memories live lodged in physical places.

We’re in Durban, spending time with my dad in my childhood home, and my mom’s presence is *everywhere*. Not just in the house itself – which it is, at every turn – but in side roads I drive down where we bought ribbon for my wedding or buttons for dresses or zooted down to get to last-minute movies on time.

This purple ‘helicopter tree’ was a favourite – the flowers spiral down like helicopters when you toss them in the air, and I loved them so much my mom bought me one for the garden here in Durban. (It’s now been destroyed by ants, and there’s a sad corollary there that I’m just ignoring.)

I guess this memory-in-location surprised me because I’m used to all the usual triggers at home in Cape Town. But these past few days have offered up a whole bouquet of new triggers I didn’t even know existed…

No matter how many times I say that grief is cyclical, it still surprises me.

#grief #griefjourney #griefsucks

Published inInspiring

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