Jewish Musings, Sunday November 28

[louise]

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 (hopefully)?
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!

[louise]

I saw there was a bit of sharing about Thanksgiving. I had a really lovely holiday with my family. My SIL was only nuts a few times and we all just let it pass. I ate way too much but I knew that was going to happen. I’m in a place I’ve been in many times before for better of for worse – have to get my habits back in order. It usually takes me a few days.

I have a story about giving thanks – there’s something I didn’t tell anyone. You know before I went I had the fiasco with the melted butter and chocolate. Well the next morning I knocked over a glass of water on my desk and a cup of tea on the counter. Say what? I was feeling really frazzled and haven't been sleeping well. Then, when I was driving, I felt very tired and found myself nodding a couple of times. I opened the window (it was cold), tried blasting the A/C, was looking for a coffee stop. And then I went off the road and into the embankment. The sound woke me up. By some miracle I was not hurt and was able to continue driving. I have been haunted since then by visions of what could have happened. What if it was oncoming traffic instead of an embankment? Or a concrete wall? A railing on an overpass? I could have been in a ravine or a river. When we went around the table about what we were thankful for I didn’t mention what had happened. I couldn’t say it. On the drive back I had a cup of coffee before I left. A I droeve I was so aware of all the different railings, dividers, walls I could have crashed into. I am a very lucky woman.

Haven’t spilled or broken anything the last few days.
A very lucky woman.

[peachymom1]

Louise, I'm so glad you're OK - that sounds like a frightening experience.

Sorry I was MIA last week. We flew to Denver on Monday and home on Friday. The good part is that it was wonderful to be with all three kids and their SOs. They all worked together to make Thanksgiving dinner at DD35 & DDIL35's house, everything from scratch, everything delicious. DH and I didn't have to do a thing except show up. Both DS's (and the one DS's fiancee) all stayed at DD & DDIL's house, so it was just DH and me in our hotel room, which was lovely. We went to an escape room together one evening; everyone else was a pro, but it was my first time, and I had a blast. Good quality time with everyone, and uneventful flights both ways (thank God).

The bad part is that I got a migraine on Wednesday and had to take my migraine prescription, which I did remember to bring with me. DH and I also got rear-ended once, with just us in the car, and the woman who hit us ran up to DH's window (he was driving), banged on the window and yelled at him, then got in her car and drove off. We weren't hurt, just rattled, thankfully, and just minor scratches on the bumper. And we woke up Friday morning to a 17-degree snowy day. We had to scrape the snow off the windshield of the rental car, which we'd never done before in our lives, then allow extra time to get over to the girls' house to pick up the DS32 who lives with us, and to say/hug goodbye to all the others. DH had never driven in snow before, and it wasn't deep or anything, but we're California wimps and don't know from snow. So DD35, God bless her, drove to the airport ahead of us, so we could follow and pace ourselves, and get there the most efficient way possible.

One more thing to make me crazy. I'm scheduled to read Torah on December 2, aliyahs #2, #3 and #4, and I took my sheets of text with me to Denver to practice while we were there. The ritual director called me on my cell phone on Tuesday and asked if I could also read the first aliyah, since that reader bugged out, and I'm his most reliable Torah reader. So I said yes, and I've been practicing diligently, but I admit I was feeling rather overloaded. A week and a half is not a lot of time for me to learn another aliyah, but I'd done this one before, so I figured I'd be able to learn it.  Then I fully intended to be in shul yesterday, but when I woke up Saturday morning I felt tired and lazy and didn't go. I got a frantic call from the ritual director after services - apparently he had also scheduled me to read Torah yesterday, and since I didn't show up, he was worried that something had happened to me, or I'd gotten sick, or I was stuck in Denver, or whatever...

I do remember many weeks ago, going over the Torah reading schedule with the ritual director, and yesterday's Torah reading was indeed originally on my list. But at some point, he told me he didn't need me for that one after all, along with another Torah reading he'd originally asked me about. So I crossed both off my list. Somewhere we must have had a miscommunication, because he thought I was reading yesterday and I thought I wasn't. One or both of us are at fault here, and I feel terrible about it regardless. It's actually a good thing then that I didn't go to shul yesterday, because it would have been even worse to be there in person and not be prepared when I was supposed to read. I'm still upset about this. DH tells me not to beat myself up, and I know he's right. I also know the ritual director could step in easily and do the reading in my place. It's just that I hate to let someone down, and I hate to be thought of as irresponsible or unreliable. But when he called me on Tuesday to add more reading to Vayishlach (December 2's portion), why didn't he mention anything about expecting me to read Vayetzei (November 25's portion)?  I love this man, but really?

So I feel overloaded and overwhelmed. I realize these things are nothing compared to the awful things going on in the world. But I just don't feel like myself. I feel like I can't find my way back to a healthy balance. My work laptop keeps dying and I need to take it in to the IT guys at the local office, but I also have a huge project to get done that is time-sensitive and that keeps spewing out new complications. And while I'm complaining, I might as well whine that I still haven't found shoes for my son's wedding.

Oh yes, one other thing. We get a lot of household items from Amazon's Subscribe & Save, and 11 things were scheduled to be delivered while we were out of town. So I contacted Amazon far in advance and asked for them to be delivered a week later instead. The agent assured me that this would be done, no problem. I contacted them again the day before we left, just to make sure, and the agent promised me that all 11 items would be delivered on November 28 instead of November 21. Guess what? They all came on November 21. Our apartment manager texted us the next day to ask if we wanted her to open our door and put everything inside the front door. We thanked her profusely, and she did do that for us. But I'm seriously ticked at Amazon.

Thank you for listening to me! Maybe I'll feel better after a good night's sleep. I hope you are all well and having a great weekend!

[lee058]

Good morning everybody. Hope you are all well and SAFE! Please pray for Israel.

louise, and peachymom1, I'm glad you are both okay!!

Re today's topic: I am thankful that DH, DS and I have been getting along, and that we haven't had anything horrible going on.

Have a peaceful day, Lee

[gazelle18]

Geez Louise, I’m glad you are ok!!!
And Geez Peachy, that’s a lot to deal with! I agree with your DH….don’t beat yourself up over the miscommunication.
We had a peaceful and lovely thanksgiving holiday. Except for me being physically tired this weekend from having put on the dinner, I’m in good shape.
DH and I are traveling on Tuesday with our dear friends/travel buddies to London. I’m excited about that. Will post today and tomorrow, and then will post when I can.

[brgmsn]

Louise, PLEASE take care of yourself. That means resting when you need to, eating right, and doing whatever else you need to do to keep yourself in the best shape you can be. B'H" you were fine.
peachymom1, the word "no" is a complete sentence. In both our synagogues no one reads more than one aliyah. They ask various people to do so. Or the Rabbi or Cantor do it. No one is expected to do multiple aliyot week after week. It's too much. Let them do it or find someone with less going on than you do. You're too nice!!
Enjoy London!

[hollygail]

louise , I can't tell you about my emotional roller coaster as I read your account! and then peachymom1 , even longer with yours! lee058 , and gazelle18 , and brgmsn , thank you for more restful posts!

Something must be happening, maybe something in the air, for such over-excitement in the lives of 33.33% of us. Mine (baruch hashem) pales by comparison. DH's phone situation has made him a crazy person. And I get to live with his particular brand of mishegoss. Both DS and DBIL have mentioned things to me about it. He's also showing more signs of physical as well as maybe mental impairment. I'm calling his doctor on Monday; I've put it off because of other things (you know, "life" happens...) but it's time. He always sort of dragged one foot when he walked (which drove me nuts years ago) but now he's taking small/short steps and practically shuffling both feet. He seems to have turned into an old man when I wasn't looking... Is this really what I signed up for? [sigh; yes]

Off to shower, dress, make/eat breakfast, finish packing... Going to DN's for her now traditional Thanksgiving weekend brunch (always lots of fun and lots of delicious food). From there, we'll continue driving south; first stop, to visit with DH's DN (mentally handicapped), and then another stop at the home of the executor of DU's estate. He saved some photos of DU and family for us, and he said something to DH about some other things, but I don't know exactly what (DH is hoping for what $$$ DU left him in the will). DH needs dental work; who knows how much it will cost and he told me the first thing he wants to do with what DU left him is get his teeth taken care of. Thus, stopping at the executor's on our way south from Los Angeles to San Diego.

[lee058]

Back again. hollygail, You prompted me to send more good energy out to our group!! I hope everyone has a good rest of the day.

Love, Lee

[peachymom1]

I too am back to send some good energy to everyone. And thank you all for your words of advice, strength and support. It means a lot to me.