Jewish Musings, Thursday 8/3

[lee058]

What’s on your mind — how to make kugel? This week’s Torah reading? Life goals? Prayer? We are all engaged in weight loss/weight maintenance journeys and we are all Jewish or at least interested in Judaism. We like to eat, we like to discuss. It is our goal here to provide each other support on our journeys, to share experiences, to call on our rich cultural heritage and texts, and to help each other grow spiritually.





Some of us take weekly turns starting the thread:





Frieda

Holly

Lee

Louise

Lynne

Peachy





And for those of you that stop by to read this thread without posting — you are welcome to, but you are also welcome to chime in. Don’t be shy!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE!

Today's topic: This picks up from yesterday's topic. Do you have possessions that have sentimental value, e.g., that came from relatives or friends? What makes them special to you?

For me, I have a few things like this. My menorah, which is shaped like a Tree of Life, is bronze and from Israel. My mom got it for us when she was there on a trip. We use it every year.

I have a candy dish that was my grandma's. She always kept hard fruit candies in it.

I have a small bowl that my sister made, many years ago. It's in my china cabinet, but right up front so I can see it.

My DS has a teddy bear which I gave him, which was originally a gift from my DH. It makes me smile whenever I see it.

I have dozens of cards and notes from DS, usually with hearts and stars on them. Some are from birthdays or Mother's Day, and others he just drew because he wanted to make me happy.

These are all special to me because I have feelings of love and affection about the people involved.

How about you? Have a peaceful day, Lee

[gazelle18]

I have some lovely jewelry from my mother and mother in law, and these pieces give me great pleasure.

Here is an on-topic story:

I had a Grandma Miriam, who I ADORED. She was also adored by my brother and all of my first cousins. When she died, one of my female cousins claimed Grandma’s engagement ring. It is pretty, with a small diamond, and it was incredibly sentimental to my cousin, who might have been even closer to Grandma than I was. We were all happy for cousin to have the ring. Cousin then came up with the best tradition: She brings this ring to every family simcha, and the person of honor has the ring for the weekend, or the event. For example, my daughter wore the ring at her wedding, and this give me a lot of joy.

[louise]

rtainly have some things from my mother and grandmother that are only special to me because of where they come from. I have a milk glass cake plate that was my grandmother's that makes me smile when I see it in my cabinet. Likewse some crystal pieces from the 50's that are not only classy looking but very tied in to my mother.

[hollygail]

I mentioned yesterday the portrait hanging in my living room (which hung in the living room of the house where I grew up) of DF's great or maybe great great GF. The daughter of the younger is the one for whom I'm named. Her youngest daughter (DF's aunt) gave me (because I was named for her mother) something that looks like a tall hand-made copper mug which was used to bathe her mother when she was a baby. Talk about sentimental value! If DF were alive, he'd be well past 100, so his father would be somewhere around 150 making his mother somewhere around 200, give or take. That means this copper mug standing in its place of honor on the top of the piece of furniture whose name I don't know (like a breakfront without glass doors?) must be around 200ish years old, right?

I also keep all the "thank you" notes I get from students. I smile, remembering the student, every time I read any one of them. DS has a note her late son wrote when he lost his first tooth. He wrote it to the tooth fairy (it begins, "Dear T.F."). Apparently the TF didn't come to collect said tooth when he put it under his pillow the same night he lost it, so he wrote a reminder the next day, which either DS or DBIL found with the tooth that next night when one of them swapped it for money. Even I smile whenever I see it. (No, the tooth is not with the letter.)

[peachymom1]

The sister I'm closest to, who is just 16 months older than I am, has given me several things over the years that I particularly treasure. She painted a small wall hanging with two girls on it that says "Best Friends," which is hanging in my bedroom. When we were kids, when we got annoyed with each other, we'd yell, "You think you're the Queen of Sheba!" Many years ago, DS gave me a silver ID bracelet engraved with, not my name, but "Q.O.S." I wear it to this day. When our parents divorced, they used to refer to our older two sisters as "the big girls," and this sister and me as "the little ones" (we were 9, 8, 5 and 4). A few years ago, this sister and I started calling each other "The Other Little One," or TOLO, for short. We sign our cards and emails to each other this way. She bought me a metal keychain with TOLO written on it, which I love. And for my birthday last month, she gave me a set of two small figurines, of two women facing each other, holding their hands up to grasp hands. It's particularly touching.

I've probably mentioned this before, but this sister also cross-stitched a beautiful hanging for us with our family name, which hangs on the wall under my ketubah in the living room, surrounded by the kids' senior portraits from high school. Also in the living room is another cross-stitched hanging she made of the Hebrew alphabet. She must have followed the instructions meticulously, because each letter is perfect, and she knows absolutely nothing of the Hebrew alphabet. This was a particularly thoughtful labor of love, and we all love it and appreciate the effort she put into it. She also likes to write haikus; she wrote me one recently that I printed and framed. She's so thoughtful.