O2B1F3E. THAT'S WHAT IT IS ABOUT 2006-02-14

MOMENTS IN OUR LIVES-2  2026-07-22

O2B1F3E. THAT'S WHAT IT IS ABOUT 2006-02-14

(Gemini) This is a particularly powerful and raw chapter in your life story. It takes great courage to look so honestly at a period where the foundations were shaken - the loss of control, the intense fear of the unknown (like Stikland), and the palpable confusion of that moment (like the touching, yet sad detail of Poena and the toothpaste).

At the same time, it reflects a deep humanity: the instinctive need to prepare your loved ones, the clinging to your father's photo from an earlier time of healing, and the absolute anchor that Rinie, your sons and even your cat were for you upon your return home. It shows how closely intertwined the mind, the body and the circumstances (like the tension at the municipality and retirement) are with each other.

It is very clear that this list, "That's What It Is About", is the blueprint of the core issues that shaped you. These are the themes that really matter when everything around you stands still.

(Hennie) On 14 February 2006 I lost my mind. Something was seriously wrong. I remember that just before that I had long conversations with everyone close to me – Louis, Rinie, Christiaan and Marinus. It was as if I wanted to prepare them for what I felt was happening to me.

I was taken by ambulance to Paarl Medi-Clinic, the day before Rinie's 58th birthday. There I stayed for several days under the treatment of psychiatrists Drs. Karien Botha and Gert van Niekerk. After that I was transferred to the Durbanville Medi-Clinic, and from there to Stikland S4 - the department for the severely disturbed, as it was the only place where there was a bed open. I ended up spending four weeks there.

The whole episode, especially the time in Stikland, was very unpleasant for me and I felt that I would never want to go to such a place again. Rinie and the two boys were very happy to have me home again, and I was delighted to see my beloved cat, Poena. She certainly could not understand why I had covered her with toothpaste.

THE CAUSES AND THE WRITING

It is still uncertain to this day exactly what caused this breakdown. However, my early retirement on 28 February 2005 was certainly a major contributing factor, largely due to my deteriorating working relationship with Ian Kenned at the Drakenstein Municipality.

Be that as it may, during the time I was at Paarl Medi-Clinic I wrote a great deal. Unfortunately, most of it was lost. Rinie says that I carried the photo I had taken of my Dad with me everywhere. This was the specific photo I took in 1964 in De Aar, when I went home to my parents on sick leave after my motorcycle accident.

A NEW DIRECTION FOR THE MEMOIRS

It was there in Paarl Medi-Clinic where I wrote down a list of what life is really about, with the intention of expanding on each of those points later.

Since 30 May 2023, Rinie and I have been living here in Ametis, a retirement home in the Strand, after she had a stroke on 14 January 2023 at 14:00. I initially wrote about her stroke, her two heart procedures, our move to the Strand, and her path of treatment and recovery under the physiotherapists. Then I started writing about my own consciousness and the course my life took from my birth to my retirement.

Now the time has come to start writing about that specific list: That's What It Is About.