Nov.14

Nov.14

 

Our Jewish Congregation was buzzing today. Two men were sitting in the social room planning a function. Someone was busy in the kitchen preparing a meal for the Senior Outreach program that was meeting in a class room. Two men were in a closet that serves as a work shop as they got tools to do some repairs. In the social hall, Hadassah was setting up a luncheon for their meeting. In a large classroom 10 ladies were opening their prayer books to start their Hebrew lesson.I was part of the Hebrew class. We had a minion of women. We become a community in that room. Reading Hebrew,slowly, we make mistakes, we laugh, we help each other sound out the words. We even break out in song sometimes. I had to confess that for years I have been mispronouncing a word as "Tequila" . Now ever time a classmates sees that Hebrew word ,maybe they will smile and think of me and for sure, when the time comes for me to be saying this blessing in Israel, I'll smile in return. It's never too late to be united in prayer and in smiles.

 

Nov.13

 

It's Deja Vu all over again.It's those acts of nature that we don't control. It's not decided at the United Nations or across a board table .Weather happens. We can be so proud of Israel. She is the first to give, send and bring. Her medical personnel were first to set up field hospitals (Haiti)and she was here at Sandy Hurricane to dispense non perishables before other agencies were on the scene. How does such a small country have such a a spirit of giving. It would apear that Israel takes Tzdakah seriously. Any kid who went to a Jewish Sunday School knows about Charity. Every Sunday, I took a quarter, tied in a handkerchef corner, to be collected in my classroom. We tried to be the class that collected the most money that Sunday. That was about the time that I was made aware of the Holocaust,I hope it went to some Jewish relief effort. It's never too late to let the world know that we care , we don't wait, we do. It's the Jewish way.

November 12

Especially for those of us who are older and have lost a loved one, do you ever have that moment when you say" I have to tell__________ what just happened "? But in a second , you remember that that person is no longer here. I don't know what this means , but I am doing that more lately. I'll have a thought that I think I would like to share with my sister, but she isn't here. Maybe this relates to my watching a TV program about a Medium. Maybe my subconscious is letting my sister talk to me. Creepy. I don't mind getting these flashes of my sister. She was 8 years older than me, only 18 years younger then our mother. She was a nice bridge since she was closer to me than our Mother was to me. This is OK because it set me up for who I am .I really owe my sister a lot of gratitude. She and my Mother were more like sisters, I was the outliner. I pretty much relied on my own instincts. Because my story has a happy middle and it hasn't ended yet, it is never too late to stop blaming your Mother for everything that went into making you who you are.Move on.

November 11

I am cleaning a closet shelf.There are dozens of shopping bags--a collection of shopping bags saved to pass on "things" when delivering "stuff" to friends.What I see is a pile of shopping bags with logo's from popular stores. I just realized that I was saving them, not to use, but to show how in I was. .Every time that I brought some item to a friends house, I could put it in a shopping bag that showed how sauvy I was,and stroke my ego.Some of the bags came to me by friends who were bringing me things.Maybe there are more of us out in the world than admit to being a shopping bag hoarder.

It made me sad, but I let go of most of the bags.I don't need the bags.Really, I don't need the bags.I am giving the pile to our rummage sale to send home items that were purchased there. My hope is that someone else can give them a good home.It is never to late to know that you don't need shopping bags to prove your worth.

It's Never Too late November 10

Have I told you about our wonderful children.I'm in awe of how different each of them is. Same parents, same home environment--completely different in all aspects. I know for a fact that two are ours.The red hair in the hospital nursery  were a give away. The other two may be questionable. All are workaholics with strong work ethics.The two that have children are wonderful parents.

One of our children is Shabbat Shomer, one has to be reminded that it is Yom Kippur.One is the most spiritual person that I know.One is giving without expectations of being repaid. Yes, they are all Jewish.Each in their own way they practice Judaism.How can I fault three out of four for not belonging to a Synagogue,when I see the good that they do and the example that they set for their children ,their nephews and their parents.It is never too late to let your grown children know that they are just what you wished for.

It's Never Too Late

When we bought our Victorian house many years ago, I only had to walk into the foyer to know that this was the one for us. It just felt right. And it was. We had our youngest child there, Graduations, Bnai Mitzvot parties, a pre wedding party, recovery from by pass surgery. The almost 100 year old house lent itself to every occasion. And along the way, we have some great family memories.

The day we moved in, I sent our then youngest child out to meet our neighbors. I gave her a bag of jelly beans to seal the deal. A neighbor later told me that our daughter introduced herself as” Hello, I’m Uish, (Jewish) what are you“. That should have given us an indication of her future.

Another daughter was playing baseball in front of the house. The batter swung and flung the bat into her mouth. A trip to the ER and then to school, where she showed her mouth to a class mate. He vomited. Another daughter decided to make dandelion wine in her closet. It exploded and we never got that smell out of the closet. Our fourth child declared that he was the Messiah. How could we not take that seriously as he was 4 when he told us, and our only son. What did he know about the Messiah ! What a lot of memories and good times we had in that house. It is never too late to bring up these memories and just treasure them.

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Latest comments

01.12 | 14:15

Safe travels. See you soon. sally

04.07 | 12:10

I read the last page first too. It’s a family curse.

22.05 | 12:38

so glad youre here mom!

29.08 | 17:45

Don't quite know how this got to me but it was on the top line of my computer (not in email) But I really enjoyed it. I truly admire you.