The Restory Retreat Centre

It's easier to die than to move ... at least for the Other Side you don't need trunks.                                                                                                          - Wallace Stegner Boxes, boxes, what to throw away, what to take, "oh, look at this! I made it in grade 2", returning what has long forgotten been borrowed, what must be so close that it is unpackable, and the books and books.... We're packing. George and Matilda

My mother with me back in 1961 (left) and my daughter Eylene and I in 1991 when I turned thirty (right) I'm packing for the move to Wakkerstroom. This time round, I feel a great need to sort out and discard what I no longer need . Also on a emotional level, I am more able to work through stacks of photographs and letters, cards and mementos of the times of my life and to reduce it to a manageable account without being too sentimental or precious about it..     When my mother passed away a decade ago, I was left with shelves of files and boxes containing what can be called "the hard copies of her life": journals, recipes in her own handwriting, knitting and embroidery patterns, touring guides, favourite books, accounts, photographs and correspondence. I never got round to tackling the sorting out of this tender heritage.      But now the time came to do so and I spent many a day engrossed in my mother's life. So much so that I want to some day write ...