|
Post by peachymom1 on Aug 19, 2023 22:06:21 GMT -5
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:
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!
|
|
|
Post by peachymom1 on Aug 19, 2023 22:07:38 GMT -5
Good morning and shavua tov! Today is the CHOC (Children’s Hospital Orange County) Walk at Disneyland, which is a walk through Disneyland to raise money for the hospital. DH and DD34 have participated in this every year for about ten years, except during the pandemic. And last year it was virtual, so this year DH and DD34 are very excited to be doing the walk in person. They’ve been gathering sponsors/donations for months, DD34 flew in from Denver on Friday, and they left last night to check in to their hotel so they could get up at the crack of dawn to have breakfast and take their assigned places for the walk.
It’s a huge media blitz, thousands of people all over the place, and of course there are plenty of Disney characters who come out for photos and to cheer the walkers on throughout the path through Disneyland. When it’s over, DH and DD34 will go back to their hotel, shower and rest, then go back to the park to ride the rides. They’re staying a second night too; DH will drop DD34 off at the airport on his way home tomorrow. Disneyland is about an hour’s drive from us, so DH will get home sometime tomorrow afternoon.
Unbeknownst to DH, the other two kids are going to show up at Disneyland today to meet them, once the CHOC walk is completed, so they can all enjoy Disneyland together. DH’s birthday is next weekend, so this is their gift to him. The kids have been plotting this for months and are quite happy with themselves that they’ve kept the secret.
This means that I have the entire day today to myself, as the DS32 who still lives at home won’t be home until quite late. After our Zoom at 11 Pacific, I’m meeting an old high school friend for lunch. She just moved into her mom’s house so she can keep a closer eye on her, so I’ll go to their neighborhood to hang out. This friend and her mom hosted a bridal shower for me way back in 1985, and I’ve always loved the mom. She’s known for giving this advice whenever there’s some kind of disaster and the electricity goes out: “You gotta drink all the beer and eat all the ice cream!” She and her husband (z”l) immigrated here from Ireland when they were first married, and she still has a trace of a lilt to her voice, though she’s in her nineties now. She is a delight, and I’m looking forward to seeing her.
Do you carve out time to meet up with friends by yourself? Or to maybe do something by yourself, to have some alone time? I have two friends that I see pretty regularly for dinner (one of them about once a month, the other every few months), and I really enjoy spending time to catch up with them. I have a friend who likes to go to the movies by herself. I like to go get my nails done, though I don’t do that as often as some women I know. When my kids were small, I would occasionally walk to a local restaurant on a Thursday night and get an iced tea and a bowl of soup – that’s all I could afford, and they didn’t mind if I sat there with my crossword puzzle book for a short while. DH would do the same thing, though he usually went to the ice cream shop instead. We could only do this every few months, but it was something we enjoyed immensely and looked forward to, modest a treat as it was.
How about you?
|
|
|
Post by hollygail on Aug 20, 2023 7:23:03 GMT -5
I loved first reading about the Disneyland walk for charity, then about your kids' plans to surprise their dad for his birthday. Second I loved reading about your plans to meet with you old friend and the information about her mother's advice and history. Third I loved reading about how you and your DH spent time alone in the early days when you had to be frugal. What a great way to start my own day! Thank you for all that.
One of my students became bar mitzvah yesterday. His congregation is located almost 40 miles from my house. I taught there (and stood in for the rabbi on Fridays nights when she was on vacation for many of the 12 years both she and I were employed there) for a long time before they ran out of students during the pandemic, so I wasn't teaching there during the past school year and hadn't been to that congregation for more than a year. I walked in, saw the rabbi, and we hugged. What a great return! Then one of the women I became friends with came in and we hugged. When I saw the mom of the bar mitzvah boy (she herself was an adult ed student of mine some years ago and we became friends even before her older daughter became my student) and (you guessed it) we hugged. After services, DH and I left the kiddush luncheon a little early to stop by the Jewish retirement home on our way home; they recently hired a former rabbi of mine (with whom I had become friends), and yesterday at services there, they were celebrating the 100th birthday of a resident who's a member of my own congregation. By the time DH and I arrived, most people had already left (including my current rabbi, who had gone there to give the 100-year-old a blessing) and I got hugs from people I've known for many, many years from my own congregation. Before leaving, my former rabbi mentioned that she had to attend a meeting (class, actually) being taught by another cantor I've known since the mid- to late-1990s; her son and I led services together for my congregation a few months ago. So, yes, another hug while this cantor and I caught up (I once led services for her at the same residence when she had laryngitis).
I realized how much I've been missing being with people! I mean, I knew I missed this aspect of my life, but being able to garner so many hugs in a few hours really brought it home to me. The pandemic stole more from my life than I'd known.
One last thing. I'm sitting here in my office and I can hear a little rain outside. I haven't seen any forecasts yet, but if this is a taste of what's on the horizon, I suspect San Diego is not going to be in anywhere near as much danger as had been predicted during the week.
|
|
lee058
This space for rent
Posts: 23,294
|
Post by lee058 on Aug 20, 2023 9:01:05 GMT -5
Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE!
Re today's topic: Alone time is important to me. I used to go out on my own often, but now that I am dependent on DS and my walker, I don't do that any more. Instead, I just tell DS that I need some alone time (or he tells me the same thing). Fortunately, our house is big enough that it is easy to do that.
I also get alone time when DH and DS go shopping or run errands, like now, and I generally read or use the computer.
Have a peaceful day, Lee
|
|
|
Post by peachymom1 on Aug 20, 2023 22:23:10 GMT -5
Well, my lunch got rescheduled, and I haven't left the house all day. It's been raining steadily all day, and I've been here by myself, reading Rod Stewart's autobiography and studying my Torah readings for this Shabbat, in turns. An odd juxtaposition, for sure!
|
|