Dear
16 St Giles
I
am writing you this letter to inform you that with effect from the 31st
of March 2015, you will cease to be my home. My family and I are moving out
from under your roof, you will no longer be my home, our home.
If
I had a choice, I was going to stay behind and not vacate your precious walls
because truth be told, I don’t fancy the idea of moving out, neither do I like
where I am going.
I
remember when I first moved in, that was January 2006. I was a mere teenager,
doing my O’Levels at a local school. It feels like yesterday though it’s been
close to a decade. The memories of that day are still vivid in my mind. I did
not like you, not because you were ugly or unwelcoming but because I literally
knew not a single soul in the neighbourhood save for my family. I had no
friends.
But
as days turned into months, months into years and when I started making friends
around the neighbourhood, I grew very fond of you. You ceased to be a mere
rented house that was meant to shelter us, a house that will eventually move
out of and you became a home, my home. I looked forward to coming home from
school every day.
At
the back of my mind, I knew that at some point, I will have to divorce you. Not
in a million years did I envision that it will be under such circumstances and
that it will be a permanent move.
I
always thought that I’ll move out when I get employed outside the city and will
be coming back as often as I could to visit my family and friends. At other
times, I imagined myself moving out after getting married and still coming back
to see my family. Moving out was never meant to be permanent, so I thought.
No
wonder I got a little bit depressed when I was told that we are moving out. I
cried myself to sleep as I couldn’t bear the thought of being us being
permanently separated. I eventually had to snap out of it and make peace with
my newly found reality.
Over
the years, you have watched me blossom into a young woman that any mama will be
proud of. I spend the most important years of my life, my teenage years, under
your roof. It is inside these walls that the greatest memories of my life were
made, not forgetting my fair share of mistakes that I have since learnt from.
It is also under your roof that I watched my siblings being Thabo and Nhlalo
being born; take their first steps and saying their very first words.
Apart
from these cherished memories, you hold my deepest, darkest secrets. I’m talking about those kinds of secrets that
no one else knows about, the one that I will take to my grave unless of course
you develop a mouth and start telling on me.
I
am sorry I didn’t appreciate you when I had the time, I didn’t tell you how much
you meant to me. Now that I have moved out, I realise how attached I was to
you. I hope the feeling was mutual.
Now
that I have finally moved out, I realise how much you meant to me, to us. More
often than not, I find myself comparing this new house that we are now staying
to you and you still stand out. Maybe I am being biased. But until I make new
memories in this house, grow fond of it, it will always remain just that, a
house and you No 16 St Giles will always remain my home.
Looking
on the “brighter side,” at least I didn’t move far from you. I will still be
able to see you on my way to and fro school. That way I will always remember
how much you meant to me.
But
either way, I will miss seeing my friends on a daily basis and spending as much
time with you as I possibly can.
Nomatter
where I go, regardless of who occupies that house after we have vacated it, it
will always be my home and no one will take that away from me.
I
will forever love you and I will forever miss you.
Yours
truly
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