The candy man can

Yesterday morning, around 3.30am, my Dad and my little sister came home. I was sitting in a little ball on the couch waiting for them, with all the lights in the house switched on and a terrible sitcom blaring in front of me. My little sister grunted hello at me then went straight up to bed, and my Dad, pale and exhausted, spoke quietly to me and asked me to wake him in 20 minutes so he could drive back across town to my sister and Mum at the hospital (everyone's fine!). So I sat back down and drained my cup of tea, feeling like an adult, being relied on, being the responsible one, taking my turn of staking my eyes open for the good of my family. My Dad fell asleep immediately and I was suddenly sitting in a world of worrisome 4ams and concrete duties to be fulfilled. 

It was night-silent and totally calm as my Dad and sister slept and I sat on the couch, blinking slowly, wasting energy wishing that the world wasn't quite as cruel as it is. 

In other news the hospital sister was in The Age today, very exciting, and very nice photo considering she ended up in hospital mere hours after it was taken! Here is her website and her much-better-blog-than-mine. She's pretty funny (I'm funnier) and we bond over Weetbix and talking about actors that were in both The Brady Bunch and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Gene Wilder version).