Ann

In mid 2001 I moved into an upstairs room with an elderly divorced lady named Ann. She was a bit nosy and talked allot, but anything was better than staying in a place where I did not belong. In the afternoons when I returned home from work it was nice to have a little quiet time to myself. Ann had a big ginger Cat who fell in love with me immediately. Well the feeling was mutual. Cats know when you need comfort or company.

The first few weeks he phoned me everyday. You know how it is, sometimes after a relationship the “friends” part actually means “future hope” so I cut myself off completely.

Yes I was lonely at times. My sister was on the other side of the City and my parents were 200kms away in the country. But I could not go back to him just because I missed the company. I did not hate myself for giving up all I thought I had. Besides, who wanted to relocate to Germany with someone they don’t even love. Only someone with the opposite morals than me I thought..

Once I sat crying on my bed and something told me to look up. There was a shelf full of books and an old album that Ann forgot to put elsewhere when I moved in. I paged through it. There were photos of their trip to Mauritius a couple of years back - I knew that because she even saved the plain tickets. She looked so happy back then. She had a family. Her 3 boys and husband are on most of the pictures and I realized she must have been behind the camera the whole time. I could find only a few pics of them together as a family.

Ann was also alone in a way and she lost more than I did. During the 2 years that I stayed with her before I met my husband of 6 years we found comfort in each other.

In Ann found the strength to carry on. And in my journey forward I found good things.