Mighty Storm

Don't you just love a thunder storm?  It was so muggy and uncomfortable all day yesterday and there is just a feeling that comes over a town when you know you're in for a good one.  We had meat left over from the fondue so I marinated them Crying Tiger style in soy and fish sauces and planned to make fried rice.  Emily made sushi.  Where is the troubled, depressed girl of just a month or so ago?  I'm teary just typing this and remembering how she was yesterday.  When I went to get Josh from school he was limping, hot and miserable and said he'd had the worst day at school ever, and told me the reasons.  I just listened and was sympathetic.  When we got home Emily was so beautiful with him.  She talked and listened to him as well, she knows much better than me how hard it is at school.  Then she bustled about making him a milkshake and serving him the blueberry muffin she'd chosen earlier at Woolies.  Then ran him a bath!  I came out and told Josh he was the nicest boy I'd ever known (and I meant it) and how proud I am of him etc.  Later, he came to me and cuddled me and said he was so lucky he could come home to so much love.  At one point I happened to look over at Em, she was wearing a frilly apron, had little of the makeup she usually plasters herself with and just looked beautiful, happy and at peace.  She had cleaned up the kitchen and her room and was asking if there was anything else she could do to help.  I was tired and said we'd leave everything else for tomorrow.  The dishwasher is broken and the r/e is dragging their feet getting it fixed so we're washing up by hand and she did all that a couple of times as well. 
So we had thunder and lightning and lashing rain.  When we raced out to bring the car back in we noticed that one of the big rose bushes in the back had fallen over.  I thought it might have been hit by lightning but there were no burn marks that we could see, and while it was windy it wasn't that windy to knock over an established, sturdy bush.  It was raining and we were getting soaked so we left it but I think we can probably save it by tying it back up today.  My pot pourri petals were slow to dry due to the humidity and they were in the way as I couldn't find a place to set them down.  Em came up with the bright idea of putting them in the little space under the house, that has a door and lighting etc and shelves around it so we did that.  I was going to give up on making pot pourri this Summer, even though we have masses of rose bushes here.  Hopefully they will dry properly down there.  I was a bit nervous about snakes yesterday and we got in and out very quickly! 
The power went out about 4.45 and we got all the candles out and lit them and had the high powered torch ready and I managed to cook dinner on the gas stove.  We have no battery radio in the house so at one point we all went out and got in the car to see if we could get any news about the storm and when the power would be back on.  It must have been a funny sight to see us sitting in the car, in the middle of the backyard (had to move the car out of the carport to get radio reception), complete with Max the dog, sitting up on Em's lap like Jackie.  I turned on the engine and the air conditioner cranked up and we all looked at each other and said "Let's just stay out here!"  It was much cooler than the house.  We did for a little while but came back inside and the kids were amazed to realise just how much we rely on electricity for everything in our lives.  We talked about how it must have been in the old days when people just didn't have power in their houses.  They kind of whined a bit not having access to their normal entertainment, and computer and gaming batteries were soon flat, but then they settled down and Emily was drawing, and Josh reading his new book and it was so nice, all of us there together in the quiet.
I know we're probably not totally out of the woods yet with Em, but she is emerging out of the difficulties she's had and becoming the wonderful, amazing young woman I always knew she would be.  I am ashamed to admit that there were many times I was ready to give up on her.  We actually talked about that last night too and acknowledged how hard it was for both of us as we went through it.  We are pretty sure that doing years 11 and 12 through distance education is the right thing for her.  I am happy now to commit to supervising her for the next two years while she does it and giving it my all, if she will.  Distance education as well as support from the school here would be my ideal situation and I'm pretty sure that because she now cannot physically attend school because it's not safe for her, that this is what we can ask for.  I wish we could do it through a West Aussie school, like Kate did.  The TEE is so much more straightforward and doable compared with the NSW HSC.  Kate got a near perfect score for her TEE and topped her year.  She was always an academic though, but Emily is just as intelligent, albeit in different ways.  It will be interesting to see what the school offers us by way of suggestions and support.  I sense that they are mindful that we are well within our rights to take legal action against them, although I never would.
In a bizarre incident, when Em and I were in the supermarket, one of the girls who assaulted her came up and called her name and hugged her.  I didn't know who she was, dirty and unkempt and smelly, if I had I may well have pushed her away from my girl and told her where to go.  Emily kept her dignity and quipped when the girl walked away "Oh great, now I smell like drug dealer". 
I am writing this in the early hours of Wednesday morning.  The power came back on last night but went out again sometime during the night when we were sleeping.  It was so hot, and still, and dark.  It finally came on again and I got up and got a drink of water and turned the fans on again.  I have to take Josh to the doctor today, he has a horrible ingrown toenail, a legacy from his father unfortunately, I hadn't realised how bad it was till yesterday.  Em has her computer skills exam today and I have to drive over to Junee to pick up Phill. 
I don't know what my husband is going through and why his behaviour is as it is, whether it is a delayed reaction to all the problems with Emily, coupled with a bit of mid life stuff as well as the death of his sister, but I've figured that it's me who has to lead this family right now and that I need to get on top of my own issues, mainly to do with my my hormones and my own mini meltdown, in order to do it.
I need to pay a bill and try to get a bit more sleep before I start my day.  I have a nice piece of beef to put in the slow cooker for dinner and that can cook while we get on with everything we have to do.  I might even make Yorkshire puddings to go with it.  I love doing roast beef in the new cooker, all it has on it is freshly ground black pepper and it cooks on a rack and I make the best gravy out of the juices at the end just thickening it with a bit of cornflour and maybe a bit of red wine if I can find some.  I love that I can brown the meat in the crock, and then put it back on the stove to make the gravy.
It's nice being awake at this hour, I can hear the town below me slowly waking up.  Trucks on the Junee road, a freight train rumbling through, a dog barking.  Perhaps I won't go back to sleep, I'm wide awake now.  I might read for a while instead.