Crisis !What Crisis!

Relaxing on the Fells after a busy week

It's been a topsy turvey sort of week. It started off O.K, in fact we were quite relaxed as there was no drum lesson on Monday so far less rushing around in the car. Then on Tuesday we got the news that my husband's uncle had died, He was 80 and had had a good life but my husband had many happy memories of holidays in Scotland as a child with his uncle. We didn't  know at first when the funeral would be but were told it was likely to be on Friday a couple of hours away in Whitehaven.
Then the next day the car broke down on the school run. Fortunately it died on the drive and my husband got it started so we didn't miss the school bus ,but it wasn't really appreciated first thing in the morning!
On Wednesday my mum rang to say that my dad was spending the night in hospital for observation so a sleepless night awaiting news the next morning that he had been sent home and was feeling better.
The children were looking forward to Thursday. My eldest was kayaking on Coniston lake with his COPE class and the weather was fantastic. Meanwhile my daughter and I were taking part in a concert with our community choir and orchestra, she was singing and playing flute in Carnival of the animals  and I was singing with the choir. We had to be at the venue for 5.00pm. I set off to pick the children up from the school bus at 4.00pm and once again the car died. The next two hours were spent frantically arranging for the children to be picked up from the bus stop, ringing the AA, arranging for my daughter to get to her rehearsal with a neighbour and then I followed in hot pursuit when my car was mended.
When we have a bad week it's easy to think that very little is learned . In fact crises can offer some of the best lessons. For my Autistic son, routine is very important and weeks like these show that despite being uncomfortable he can survive the unexpected things that happen in life. For my eldest he experienced the pain of his first funeral and met up with relatives who he rarely sees, He also learned from the AA man the mechanical problems causing my car to break down. Something which he has already encountered  at college on his car mechanics course and which he will now work on with his dad. For me I had to take the bull by the horns and drive our other car. Not a big deal to most people but I always dread it at first. In fact imy fears were unfounded and it was far easier than my current car to drive. And my daughter still got to her concert and had to play like a true professional as though nothing at all had happened! Roll on a better week next week!