Such a mother

I felt like such a mother yesterday as I insisted the eldest take a ham sandwich and a warm sweater to school and a #blacklivesmatter protest.

The warm sweater was a tough sell because apparently none of the eldest’s jackets matched his protest outfit.

I pointed out that the protest was being held after dark and would be chilly. It was predicted to be 12C at 5pm, not exactly T-shirt weather.

The eldest eventually and grudgingly agreed to take a sloppy joe with him.

I also felt very motherly because I was really worried about my child‘s safety at the protest after watching events unfold in the US. I said the eldest had to send regular updates on his welfare and made numerous pleas for him to keep safe and avoid extremists.

In the end, I had nothing to worry about – the eldest decided not to go to the protest because there were fears it would turn violent and jeopardise the credibility of peaceful protests. Instead, he’s headIng to a vigil on Saturday.

Oh, and he arrived home not wearing the aforementioned sweater – I suspect just to prove a point – saying it was too hot. It was definitely not too hot, it was fricking freezing. Grrrr teenagers.

But my gripes are so small compared to the awful events that continue to unfold overseas

I was messaging a US-based friend yesterday who confirmed that it’s truly horrific right now. Our conversation following him writing a post on Facebook saying: “A commentator made a good point on CNN just now, it’s not a right-wing or left-wing issue, this violent anarchy – it is across the board, across the political spectrum. There is no conversation here. There is no dialogue or exchange of ideas.”

He said a woman who lives not far from him was killed in her home by looters this week. He and his family are terrified.

“All people are thinking about now is, how do we stop them burning down our cities and our businesses and our homes?” he wrote. “Are our kids safe? When will these people turn up in my neighbourhood? Yep, if you’re not in America and you wonder how bad it is, it is that bad.”

This was New York yesterday:

Macy’s is where I took my kids to meet Santa when we lived in the city.

It’s beyond my comprehension to see New York as it is now, while Australia sits in its gun-free, virtually COVID-free bubble.

I felt so emotional as I watched the videos people have posted online.

2020 is seriously messed up.

Song of the day: John Lennon “Imagine”