Recurring dreams

I have re-occurring location dreams. I dream a lot about the city where I spent the majority of my childhood in. My school holidays. Road trips, packed with the 4 of us, (me, my sister, mom & dad), 7 hours on the road. It also depended on where we lived, at that time because we also moved a lot.

But I digress....

That city was Durban.

Durban. South Africa.

I was born just outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, but my grandparents live in Durban, Kza-Zulu Natal (KZN). Every summer holiday, every winter holiday, at least 5-6 times a year, we would all huddle up in whichever car we had at the time, suitcases full, and take on a car journey for 7 hours…it also depends where we living. When we lived in Witbank, it was like 6 hour's drive. When we lived in Hotazel, Northern Cape it was 11 hours. Yep.

Anyways, so I dream a lot about my grandparents' house, on my mom’s side. They lived in an area called Malvern. We visited there a lot. It was 2 units. 1 unit housed my grandparents & the upstairs unit was my aunt who shared it with my uncle & two cousins. Until one of them moved out to Joburg when she got married and started her family.

I would love the anticipation build up, when we'd turn corner up the hill and then onto Cookplace street, with the mailbox perched at the end of it. We'd pass these houses on our left & right sides, and then right into a narrow driveway into the front driveway of the peach-coloured house. Where sometimes, it also depended on what time we would arrive; our grandparents would either be waiting on our arrival, or they would almost be getting ready for bed. And then we'd trek along upstairs to greet the rest of the family and settle in.

I was also really fearful of staying there, especially at night time. I ran through worse-case scenarios of us getting held at gun-point and our things being stolen. Because it wasn’t unheard of, I think on a subconscious level, I believed it was going to happen to us, at any moment. So I would plot my exit. Which way I can best fool them, or trick them in attempt to escape? What weapons would I use? I was a child, plotting this.

But I also liked visiting a lot. I know, strange relationship. There was a swimming pool. It was almost like an oasis, from the choas in that house too. I remember my cousin, the one that moved out, would always complain about chlorine getting into her hair, so she rarely went into the pool. It was our other cousin, being a boy, he was more adventurous and very naughty. As was I. So we bonded a lot. He's the reason I think I like car video games and going out with friends, and doing my own thing.

However, I enjoyed spending time with my grandfather, with no offense to the other members of my family. Out of everyone, I looked forward to spending most of the time with him. He would always have pens, paper, color pencils at the ready. He knew we'd love to draw and color and write, he gave us that space to do that, to explore always (it was both my sister and I, as his favourite grandchildren, because we were the youngest I think). And I also like any grandparent, he spoiled us a lot. He would buy us our favorite ice-creams, sweets & chocolate, but ensure that we ate 'proper food' as mom would say, which meant a good meal before sweet things, so as to not spoil our appetite.

In the dream, when I'm in the house, it's usually me and some family members, or more recently, just me.

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Another reoccurring location which appears in my dreams, that I can probably speak more clearly about, is Labrador City, Newfoundland in Canada..because it's a bit more recent in my timeline.

Circa' 2011 to 2015, I spent my teenage years in that small populated town and attended high school. I also formed new friendships, stronger ones, different ones, and it was also where I discovered my passions for dance and art, and music. Those things I was obsessed with. I was destined to become a professional dancer at any cost. And now I am teaching at a professional studio, which is also a worldwide franchise, it’s so crazy.

I'm 25, I was manifesting this since I was 14.

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But that's not what appears in my dreams. What appears in my dream, is the small red house that my family and I lived in for the span of 5 years that we were there. It was a one-story house, as were most houses in that town, unless you had a bit more extra money, then it wasn’t impossible to save up for a 2 story house.

It was one story, one kitchen, one dining, a lounge, 3 bedrooms, and one bathroom.

In the basement, it could have possibly been rented out to someone, as it came equipped with one bathroom, two spare bedrooms, a furnace room that housed the washer and dryer and water tank, and then a spacious recreational room, with a built-in bar, that we never used. As I said, it could have been rented out and we have been making bank.

So that’s the house I dream of.

I'm still trying to figure out why I guess. They don’t reoccur at regular times, but when they do, I try my best to document them. In the lab city (short for Labrador City) house, that appears in the my dreams, I'm in there. Sometimes it's my family members, or friends.

Perhaps that town shaped me, the experiences, the fact that I loved all the arts; dance, music, visual art....I had teachers who were passionate about what they were teaching, and some of them were good, but not passionate and vice versa.

Do dreams hold on to memories, and places that you grew attached to? Do they help you escape and form a new reality?

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Thank you for reading....keep on thinking and exploring.