friends, friends, friends – how lovely it is to see your red dot locations on the world map, and to feel ‘heard’!
~ exciting. ~ and 199 hits – that’s nice, too.
i have had an eventful week, such that i have not posted, nor have i even had time to READ the blogs that *I* like to read. so i will have to try to catch up with that, today.
what happened?
hmm, not sure i can remember! – maybe i will have to work backwards…
yesterday i have to confess that i slept all day, after not getting much sleep the night before, and also feeling a bit overwhelmed by things on my mind. NOT depressed – just in a whirlpool…
saturday night, my housemates and i went to the nightclub, got home at 3 am, after an ‘OK/average/NOT especially fun’ night.
as soon as i got home, the phone rang: police. they had a young girl there, who is a friend of mine – i love her! – and she had called the police because her mum was drunk -and who knows WHY else- …. she’s 11. beyond that, i don’t know what happened, because when i asked her in the morning if she wanted to talk about what happened, she said “not really”. so, i left it at that.
the police asked if she could stay with me overnight, and of course i said ‘yes’. so they dropped her here, and we went to bed: me, the BIG dog and her, in one double bed (the dog in the middle). mercifully, she slept all night, because some of my housemates were a little ‘the worse for wear’ and became somewhat ‘emotional’, as they say, in the kitchen…could have done without THAT!
first thing in the morning: the police phone, and tell me to take her home. i wake her up and she doesn’t want to go. scared that “mum won’t be sober yet” - HER words. police tell me to take her home anyway, and that, if things aren’t right, she should return to me, and I should call them.
I take her home. before we leave, she says “my heart is thumping”. when we arrive, mum takes her inside without noticing me/I’m standing off to the side. i wait and listen as the mother launches into an abusive swearing tirade against the child – for me “being late bringing her home”, for the child calling the police, …a lot of it, i can’t hear all the words - but i can hear the tone and the swearing.
i wait, but the mother is between the child and the door. the child accepts it meekly – occasionally responding quietly and politely. i accept that all i can do is go away, go home, and wait for her to come over to me. (i live just around the corner.)…
i go home and go back to bed, not having had much sleep. the child doesn’t come. every time i hear a noise, i almost jump out of bed to welcome her. she doesn’t come. by nightfall i am feeling sad and lonely for missing her and wondering how she is, and what is happening for her at home.
i sleep, but i have had too much sleep by now, and have bad dreams. then it’s TODAY!
today, i take some action. can’t say more. will erase this post in a couple of days so that there is no chance of the mother seeing it.
saturday: housecleaning, couple of hours work, had a coffee, got drawn into a long discussion with coffee-shop owner about HER situation: apparently she has been coming to work from the women’s refuge for 5 weeks, after her husband threatened her life, stopped working, demanded maintenance from her, and took her kids. she is a very recent immigrant to australia, therefore isolated from all her previous family and friends/social support system. during this period, her mother in the UK developed cancer, and her young daughter (who has had leakemia) got bullied at school about being overweight (caused by her steroid medication) – to the point where they had to find a new school for her. her shop manager quit – by text message! - while she was visiting the UK (to see her sick mother). she is now ready to move from the refuge, into her own accommodation, and has legally got back ACCESS to her kids – but not custody. she says she has learned so much about herself…she has deeper concerns for the children’s welfare, but this is enough to write about.
obviously i am concerned for her, and would like to help – will consider how i can do that, because financially i’m not in the best position at the moment.
had a foster child – 8 year old boy – for thursday and friday – the nicest and the easiest child i have had – despite the fact that the reason i had him, was because he was suspended from school, because he beat up a female classmate to the point where she had to go to hospital, the day before. WHY? – because she embarrasses him, by telling people she LOVES him… jeez it’s a tough world out there, today.
still, he was quite delightful, and a pleasure to get to know.
wednesday i found out that i haven’t got – or even been considered for – the job i wanted and thought i might get. also, 2 hours later, found that i MIGHT have another job, which i’m not sure about: a prospect which is both exciting and intimidating at the same time.
also, found out that one of my housemates has an assault conviction, and therefore his presence in my home is a stumbling block to further foster care, and i will probably have to ask him to go… that’s OK. can do. but he is off-work with an injury at the moment, and worried about money, so this news will not be welcome, in the context of other current challenges to his lifestyle and wellbeing. i will wait till i know for sure about that situation. have asked for clarification (re his police clearance, or lack of same) from foster care people, today.
have to finish the obituary for one of the funerals i went to last week – went to 2 funerals in the space of 3 days: wierd! both ‘good’ funerals. that’s enough on that subject.
sun is shining today, even though it was an unusually cold night: 4 degrees – it never gets colder than that, here where i live. today it will be 21 degrees and sunny – and it looks lovely outside. have to go chop some stuff in the garden, so that it will be collected in the council ‘green waste’ pick up, any day now. at least today is a good day for it – but i have so much else to do.
better go have lunch – more later!
