What should be a nice relaxing Australia Day Weekend, has been anything but that!!
It is after midnight and I should be tucked up in bed, ready to start the work week, but I just can’t sleep. A sense of uneasy keeps washing over me and I think I am just in over tired mode now.
This Australia Day long weekend has been tough. For so many families in my home state of Queensland are reliving the nightmare of the 2011 floods all over again. Only two years ago we watched with horror as water created a moving monster that destoyed peoples homes and lively hoods. Many have not fully recovered from that event and have to relive it all again.
This long weekend always co-incides with my eldest daughters birthday. Yesterday my gorgeous girl turned 17 and we had orgainsed a Cocktail Party (minus the alcohol) to celebrate. Weeks of planning and preparing was poured into this party and it almost didn’t happen as wild wind and lot’s of rain made it impossible for many of the guests to participate. I almost cancelled the whole thing and rescheduled it for another weekend, but had fridges full of food and fab mocktails to drink and an awesome caramel mudcake to share, that we went ahead and fortunately enough people did come and make Miss WW’s 17th a great night.
Only last week my grass was brown and garden was droopy, and now I could go an build a castle out of mud. My garden is a mess, my pool is almost over flowing even though I have backwashed it twice, my washing machine decided to trip the power, so my uniforms have not been cleaned and it took most of today to clean up after the party, BUT I am one of the lucky ones. Our house is safe and dry, we did not lose power like 250,000 odd other houses have, my next door neighbour lost power, but we are on a different grid and ours stayed on, and my air-conditioning is purring away keeping us cool and dry.
I just don’t feel like one of the lucky ones. Watching the news of all the devestation has left me feeling so sad and all my silly little trivial worries seem like such a big burdon, which they are not.
I wish I could stop pain, stress and saddness that is all around. I wish I could stop the water from flowing right now. BUT I can’t. I can only hope and prey that everyone stays safe and that this passes quickly. We Aussies are built tough, to live in a land of such diversity, we have to be. Tonight, Queensland you are in my prayers, wishing you all a brighter day tomorrow.