I know it isn’t possible to turn back the clock and relive your past. But in a very real sense, that was what it felt like I had the chance to do while visiting my family in Durban.
On our way back from the airport, my cousin asked if we were interested in driving past my childhood home, the house I lived in from the time we first moved to South Africa from the UK, through my diagnoses with diabetes and subsequent blindness. The house where I stayed through my schooling and some of my university days. I guess you could say I had a long history with that house.
Craig and I had driven past the house on previous visits to Durban. But this trip down memory lane was a little different because my cousin was with us. He could remember the house from when I stayed there, and was able to give us a better idea of how the building had changed over the years, which Craig couldn’t do. As Simon spoke, memories of my time there came flooding back, both sweet and nostalgic, from time spent with friends and family, to flying around the neighbourhood streets on my bright blue bicycle.
From there we decided to extend the trip back in time by driving past the home where my grandparents used to live. To get there was a 10 minute drive from my childhood home. I was amused that I played the role of navigator for much of the trip, suggesting the route to take and offering snippets of information drawn from my remembered knowledge of the familiar way to the house. Seems that, though I might have been blind for almost 25 years, some things remain safely guarded in my memory.
As we drove up to my grandparents’ home, named Sylvan Woods, we saw with some surprise that the house was on the market. Seeing the “For Sale” sign prompted us to reach out to the homeowner and see if we might look over the property. And, to our joy, once we had explained who we were, we were able to do so.
If I remember the history shared with us by my cousin Simon, who was our guide on our mini-trip through my Durban days, and who has an interest in our family history, the house was originally built by my great, great grandfather, Charles Agar. Hmm, I might have forgotten one great there, but am not sure. Regardless, it stayed in the family until my grandmother passed away in the early 2000’s and formed part of her estate.
The people who bought the house made extensive changes to the building that I knew as a child and teenager. Well, that isn’t actually true, because the original building is a listed historic site and cannot be changed. What the new owners did was to make additions to the parts of the house that were not protected. Thankfully, what was added was done in the style of the original house.
At first I was hesitant to enter the home. I was concerned that the atmosphere of the place that held such special memories for me might have been irreparably changed. But, to my relief and joy, when I stepped through the front door, it retained the familiar comforting ambiance that I knew so well. Guide Dog Normandy led me through the familiar rooms and a multitude of happy times swept through my mind and brought me close to tears.
So, while I know it is true that we cannot travel back in time, having the opportunity to turn back the clock even slightly and relive so many wonderful memories of my family and events formed an unforgettable start to my visit back to Durban, a city that was such a fundamental part of my life as a sighted youth and newly blind young adult.
