Well, Friday was another one of those days when I couldn't do right for doing wrong. Walking on eggshells is an essential parenting skill, but as the children become older it becomes increasingly challenging.
Poor old Emily is still crushed by grief following the death of her friend Charles. I don't think I have ever felt so useless, anything I say or do just makes it worse. He was such a lovely young man; life can be so cruel sometimes.
Samuel went to school in tears on Friday morning because I have apparently embarrassed him. Nothing unusual there, I am apparently a constant embarrassment to my children! My particular sin this morning was to send a note to his teacher, Sam hates anything that draws attention to him. He can be engaging, funny and thought provoking, but the reality of living with autistic spectrum disorder is often scary for him and very difficult for those around him.
We went to school with Laura to discuss her A Level options on Thursday evening. She was given a formal offer for the subjects she wanted, Maths, Chemistry, Physics and Geography and I thought it was a very successful meeting. I felt that Robbie and I had dressed appropriately, behaved properly and not said or done anything that could have embarrassed her in any way. Laura disagreed!
We saw her class tutor who I rather like. The poor chap has the misfortune of looking at least 15 years older than his true age - not good when you are in your mid 20's. To make matters worse he looks incredibly like a jelly baby which makes it very difficult to have a serious conversation with him. Apart from telling him that Laura's art teacher was useless, I behaved perfectly. I could have said that her behaviour suggested that she was an alcoholic, but 'useless' seemed to sum up the situation succinctly.
We then went to see a senior teacher about Laura's sixth form options. I didn't comment on the fact that he was more camp than Graham Norton or that he had a larger ego than Jeremy Paxman. When he said that General Studies was a very useful subject, I didn't tell him that he was talking out of his rear end. I smiled sweetly and pointed out that it cannot be counted for University entry and Laura's general knowledge is extremely good, in fact it is a little too good for my liking at times!
Robbie is also giving cause for concern. He will shoot me for putting this on the blog, but he is really struggling with his back and he is desperately trying to pretend everything is OK. If he tries hard enough he may even convince himself!! He is going back to the doctors, even if I drag him there kicking and screaming!
We were gutted last night when the news of the rail crash involving a virgin train came up on his pager - yes, he found the pager! Robbie couldn't settle and kept up with the news until late into the night. I feel very sad for the people involved and their families, especially for the family of the lady who died. It is hard to imagine the horror of the crash when as a family we are still coming to terms with the enormity of the death of Emily's friend Charles. The news reports made me so cross when they said that an elderly woman had 'lost her life', people lose keys or money, they don't lose their lives, they die. Death is not a deliberate or careless act, it is one of the few certainties of life but it is impossibly hard to bear when it happens a 17 year old or as a result of a horrific crash. Richard Branson seems to have reacted quickly and appropriately. I know he has his critics, but he sounded shocked and sincere unlike the head of Network Rail - weasel words from a chap who looks like a ferret.
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