Family Time

For the first time in a month, we were home for Shabbat.

We had not planned to be away for so long, but that is just the way it worked out.

Since we kept going away, much of the weekly tidying up was.... delayed. So, this week, we had a lot of tidying up to do! Thankfully, we had a freezer full of Shabbat meals that friends had prepared, so we could focus on the bare necessities (like clearing off the mountain of papers that had piled up on our Shabbat Table, and the loads of laundry that had piled up on our couches).

It was quite clear that it was good for us all to be home, especially the kids. There was a lot of laughing over dinner. Our kids provided their own unique entertainment by pretending to phone each other with prank calls. Why these things make them laugh so much is beyond me....

Example:
child 1: "ring, ring"
child 2: "hello?"
child 1: "the number you have reached is not available, please try again."
**hysterical laughter**

After a while, even we had to laugh. The ridiculousness of it all was just so funny.

At one point, A's prank calls involved "inviting" pizza. (in Hebrew, the word for "order" is the same as for "invite"). She kept repeating the mistake, even after we corrected her. So, finally, Moshe "called" and said (in a dopey voice) "Hi, I am the pizza, I am here for the party."

It was just so good to laugh and be together.

Towards the end of the meal, I had to lay down and rest. The new drug (Taxol) makes me really tired. I just lay down for "a few minutes" on the couch....

I woke in the middle of the night, and could not fall back asleep. I woke up Moshe (by mistake) and we talked for a while. Eventually, I relaxed enough to fall asleep.

We all slept in, in the morning. Nobody made it to shul (synagogue). I hung out with A for a little bit. Then I had a quiet breakfast with MD. Then MD went to spend some time with A. I woke up Y, who joined me in my room. We hung out in my bed for a while, talking about this and that. I had some time alone with each of the kids. It was good for us to spend the time together.

When Moshe finished davening, we all sat down to lunch. In the middle, I took a short nap on the couch, but I woke up for dessert. (I was going to skip dessert, but the kids persuaded me to stay)

I had such a good time with my family, but I needed to sleep. As soon as lunch was over, I crashed.

By the time I woke up, Shabbat was long over.

Tonight, for the first time in ages, we all sat down to family night Star Trek.

Lately, Y is out every Saturday night with her youth group. She catches up on her own, but it is not the same as watching together. Tonight, we started so late that Y had already returned home.

It was really great watching all together.

This Shabbat, we really spent much needed time together with just our family. It was so good to be together, in our own space, just enjoying each other's company.



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel.

With love and optimism,
RivkA