Around The Corner, Part Deux

With the New Year only two days away, I am putting aside yesterday's reflection on 2015 and turning my sights to plans for next year.

Three cruises await, one sans hubby with my Sisterhood friends. That will definitely be something different but I usually surprise myself by actually doing pretty well on my own. I try to make "alone" time a time of quiet musings and introspection.  I am also hoping to cement budding friendships and have fun.

Of course, my Bat Mitzvah in September will be a Big Deal. Not for the attention and the little celebration but because it will infuse in me a personal sense of great accomplishment. I am indeed proud of myself.

Resolutions? Not many. To keep happy and healthy. To enjoy the fabulous place we are lucky enough to live in and the people in our lives. To practice gratitude everyday. To smile at beautiful memories.

;-) 

Around The Corner

...lies 2016.

It cannot come soon enough. This year, 2015, was marked with abundant goodness but also twinged with pain. Some pain was literal like my three month toothache and its accompanying severe infection that seemingly defied multiple root canals and massive doses of antibiotics. An attempt to beautify myself also slightly misfired but thankfully I appear to be getting better, at least cosmetically.

The house fared the best this year. It received a beautiful new antique rug in the dining room and a big new walk-in pantry in the kitchen. A lovely round rug lies under the kitchen table and hubby made several landscape improvements. A new pocket door separates the guest quarters from the rest of the house. Plus a new security system is in transit and a big cuddly blanket is on the living room sofa.

Socially, our life was a happy whirl thanks to old friends, Havurah Negila, hubby's new poker group, our Royal Oak neighbors and Temple Shalom. We are ending the year with a cruise with friends and even Christmas and Chanukah, normally times of strange melancholy, were the best ones we ever had.

It was a special year for me spiritually. I learned to read Hebrew (with vowels!) and am well on my way to acing my Bat Mitzvah next September. I expanded my Jewish learning thanks to teachers Sara, Larry, Rabbi Yossi and my own hubby.

Yet it was also a year of quiet contemplation on life and death, on love and loss, and on the beauty and faith and wisdom that comes with growing older... 

Moon River

Andy Williams singing Moon River sent more chills down my spine in the 1960s than all the Beatles and Rolling Stones songs put together. 

I knew that when I married I would want my hubby to be my "Huckleberry friend", as in:

Two drifters, off to see the world, there's such a lot of world to see.
We're after the same rainbow's end, waiting 'round the bend, my Huckleberry friend,
Moon River and me...

And that's why I chose Moon River for our first married dance together.

RIP Andy Williams.  Thank you for sharing your beautiful, haunting voice with us.

Angels

A few years ago, Angels were all the rage. There were books about Angels in our everyday life and little statues for home use were everywhere.

Do I believe?  I do.

A few years ago our then-Rabbi told me that Angels do not exist in Judaism. After I pointed out a whole lot of references from our Torah (think Abraham and Jacob) - including a beautiful passage from my childhood prayer book that my father read to me every night and the fact that one of our Temple's stained glass windows depicted an Angel - he relented.

I believe our Angels today come in human form. They are not perfect people but they are entrusted by God with a mission or a message to give us at just the right time. A phone call. A hug. An invitation when when we are lonely. 

A sign that all is right with the world...

In A Funk Update

Five weeks ago I wrote that I was suffering from a funk-ish mood and was verging on depression. Deep down I truly know that bad days come and go and the that the-sun-will-come-out-tomorrow. It's a little tough when things are going badly but if we just keep putting one foot in front of the other the path gets less bumpy and we can walk out of the forest.

So where am I today?  The market and our retirement nest egg have recovered and the prospect of me ending up a bag lady is once again off the radar hahaha. I feel a little better about my looks or maybe I have just accepted that what-will-be-will-be (gee I am chock full of time-tested affirmations today). And most amazing, I feel that after several months of daily devotion to my Bat Mitzvah workbook, I am finally doing better, maybe even OK.

My gratitude meter is UP. I have so much to look forward to and be thankful for. 

Life is Good.

;-)

Nostalgia

We put in a new pantry in the kitchen. It's gorgeous.

I got to chose the pantry door and the flooring. I picked a decidedly old-fashioned motif etched on the frosted glass door. It goes well with my other furnishings which is a good thing since the kitchen is visible from almost everywhere in our open-style home.

I knew I'd never get the pantry floor to match the existing tile so I decided to get something completely different. My thoughts drifted to the bathroom floor in our first apartment (built circa 1925) - those ubiquitous small hexagon white tiles that seemed to be the only tile flooring offered for several decades. Still to be found almost everywhere, only now they are labelled "vintage".  You guessed it, that's my new pantry floor.

Hubby suggested we get a step stool for the pantry to reach the high shelves. Again my thoughts wandered to our first apartment when my mother-in-law insisted that a Cosco chair with fold out steps was a necessity and gave us one for a gift. Oh yes, they too are still available (from the same company!), now labelled "retro" and oh yes, they have it in a beautiful shade of deep red. You guessed it, that's my new step stool.

It occurred to me that the "new" dishes I purchased for this home are also vintage - Franciscan Apple (see blog entry). Hmm, I am thinking that I am perhaps slipping into a nostalgic haze where I seek comforting tangible goods from bygone times. 

OK, I can live with that!

;-)

Back To The Future Day

Well, it doesn't look like the Cubs will win the World Series this year although they have come closer than they have in a long while. A lot of the other things envisioned by the 1985 movie are also still waiting. But things certainly have changed for me since 1985.

My career was still in its infancy in 1985 and now I am a contented retiree. I don't obsess about finances or my weight nearly as much (they seemed to be my driving forces in 1985) as both are stable and in good shape. I don't worry about where to live or getting more stuff or feeling the need to compete for well, anything.

I still love my hubby and we still have big fun. We have more friends than ever and thankfully, our health is good (poo poo poo). I love where we live and our pretty house. Our "problems" are little (actually minuscule). 

Yes, Back To The Future Day turned out pretty well. 

I wouldn't go back thirty years even with a time machine... except to spend more time with my parents and BFF...

;-)

Be Still

I turned off the TV. I shut down the noise and listened to the quiet.  I calmed my mind. 

I erased thoughts of housework, problems, money and schedules. I gave myself permission to skip the concert at the Temple tonight, the craft fair, reading the next book club selection and the birthday party. 

I pretended I am retired in Tennessee and rocking on my front porch. I folded up the paper without reading it.

I sipped my coffee. I refused to obsess about things out of my control.

My motto for today: Be Still and Know That I Am.

Happiness!  And Peace...

Gift

My Sisterhood Cruise roommate and friend is celebrating 16 Cancer free years!  Her doting husband is throwing her a party but because she has been under-the-weather lately (nothing to do with cancer, Thank God). It's going to be short, only an hour. Never fear, he said, there will be platters upon platters of all kinds of tasty food. Don't eat all day and make no dinner plans he cautioned.

My friend Maxie asked me at services last night what I am giving her for a gift. I said it was something from the heart, a personal possession.

When my BFF was diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer in 1996 at the age of 45 I bought us matching Patricia Locke breast cancer pins. She loved hers!  I guessed she would as we were both huge fans of Patricia Locke jewelry. 

My BFF fought her cancer bravely and when she passed away in June 2006, she was cancer free. Her death was caused by medical malpractice and radiation poisoning, not cancer. As you know, Dear Diary, we were "besties" for 40 years and I still miss her everyday and always will.

Tonight I am giving my pin to my new friend to celebrate her own victory. I hope she likes it and wears it as proudly as Sheryl, my angel, did.

My Sukkot Sermon

Last night I gave the sermon at the Friday night services. As promised, I am posting it here.

I got a bit verklempt at the end and kind of faltered. It was hard to get out the last couple of lines.

Everyone seemed to like it (again, I think its greatest attribute was that it was short). I hope Dad was listening and that I made him proud.

Our Temple "Sermonator" Marlene asked me to speak about Abundance because this week is Sukkot, or Sukkas as I learned it, the joyous festival that celebrates the Great Abundance that fills our lives. Jews forsake their normal dwelling places to eat, and even sleep, in humble sukkahs. This contrast reminds us of All Our Blessings and the open night sky makes us feel closer to God.

A few years ago a Facebook friend posted one of those quizzes that promises to tell you about yourself.  This one asked “Is your glass half full or half empty?”

My friend’s sister quickly replied:  “Glass?? What glass? Did everybody get a glass?? I didn’t get a glass!”   Haha

I did not have to take the quiz to get my answer. I wrote: “My cup runneth over and I never forget it”.

What I know about abundance I learned from my father whose Yartzeit happens to be this week.

Although he was a Yeshiva  Boker, a learned man, my father did not feel the calling to be a Rabbi or Cantor. He was content to lead the prayers, sing, and blow the Shofar on the High Holidays.

Dad worked in a jewelry store six full days a week. Wednesday was his one day off.  He would pick me up from school for lunch between his many errands.  We feasted on canned sardines, bananas and sour cream, and maybe a kichel from the Jewish bakery.

All the time I was growing up, my father and mother never had the same day off, except for Christmas, when we had our once a year breakfast of lox and smoked fish. They never went out to eat, or to a movie.

When my folks finally retired, they bought a one bedroom, second floor walkup condo in Kings Point in Delray Beach Florida.  Kings Point was a precursor in concept to The Villages, except it was almost 100% Jewish.  

Oh how happy they were!  No more cold winters waiting at bus stops!  They had a clothes dryer instead of a line strung in the basement, and cable TV!!  They had time to run errands, or read, or take a nap.  They took an exercise class called Slimnastics, ate the $1.99 breakfast special every day at the Bagel Tree, and lounged by the pool.

Best of all, my father could finally go to the synagogue as much as he wanted. He could show off his tremendous knowledge and beautiful voice, and he quickly became a Big Macker. When he passed away, the entire congregation came to mourn.

If you asked him, my Father would say he was the richest man in the world.

Khag Sukkot Sameach!  Abundant Blessings to all of us! And Shabbat Shalom!