Siphiwe Ndlovu Charts the Path to Her Debut Novel January 13, 2021 This is how I choose to remember it. It is late August, 1997. I am getting ready to leave home again—this time on my own. I am heading off to college to study Creative Writing. As I pack, I am filled with the familiar feelings that are always brought on by a new beginning—excitement, apprehension and curiosity. Because I am going to a school that is far, far away I am saddened by the knowledge that I will not see my family for almost a whole year. Even though I have no idea that seven years will pass before I see most of my family again, tears find their way onto the clothes that I pack with the help of my aunt who will die much too young and much too soon. Although we both do not know what the future holds we choose to share this moment the way that we do—not laughing or quarreling as we often have done, but quietly—already making homes within ourselves for future losses and regrets.