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Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friendship. Show all posts

Sunday, August 8, 2010

A Week Away from Home

My dear, dear friend came to Israel to visit me!

I feel so special and loved.

Her husband, who is also a close friend of ours, could not get away now, so her mother decided to accompany her for this visit. I must admit that I also love my friend's mother, who has always been so warm and embracing. In addtion to being a very intelligent and interesting woman, she has also been very generous and loving to me. Sometimes, I have to stop myself from calling her “mom.”

While they were here, I stayed with them at the hotel.  What a treat!  We hung out all day, talking and spending time together!

The dynamic with the three of us was very good.  We found the right balance between doing things all together and doing things separately. My friend's mom was totally understanding about my friend's and my need to spend some time on our own. Though, almost every morning, I ended up spending time alone with my friend's mother, because my friend needed to sleep even more than I did!  There were also a few things that I did on my own (like attending a friend's wedidng), so my friend and her mom also had some time to spend together, just the two of them.

My friend and her mom took two rooms at a Jerusalem hotel and I stayed with my friend in her room. It was so much fun, like going on vacation without any of the headaches. I didn't even have to leave town.

Since our only goal was to spend time together, we did not “overschedule” our time. We took each day “b'easy.”  (I bet even you non-hebrew speakers can figure this translation out! We just....“took it easy”)

My friend and I both brought some of our favorite games to play.  We also spent several afternoons just hanging out in the pool, treading water or lazing about, hanging onto the wall or sitting on the steps. Being in the water is very pleasant for me. My back always feels better in the water, without any weight on my skeleton.

For the most part, God has been pretty good to me regarding pain. I still hurt a lot, but most of the time the pain was managable and I enjoyed the time with my friend.

I felt really relieved. When she came, I was still pretty much at the peak of my suffering, but the pain patch seemed to be helping and as long as I remembered to treat the breakthrough pain with Percocet, I felt ok.
Before we knew it, the days flew by and her trip came to an end.

We talk on the phone almost every day, but that does not compare to actually being able to see each other!

Before she and her family moved to the US, we used to live a few blocks away from each other and get together several times a week.

I miss her so much!!



Please daven (or send happy, healing thoughts) for RivkA bat Teirtzel. With love and optimism, RivkA

Saturday, May 29, 2010

The Best Favors

Apropos my recent post about friendship, I will share with you one of the best truisms I learned from my friend, IS. (my phrasing, her idea)

"The best favors are those that are no big deal for the giver and a really big deal for the receiver!"



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

With love and optimism,
RivkA

Friday, May 28, 2010

From Each According to Her Abilities, To Each According to Her Needs

We each have our own gifts and our own weaknesses.

We form our friendships based on our commonalities, but I am finding that my deepest friendships are strengthened by our differences.

Friends with different views challenge us intellectually.

Friends with different interests expand our horizons.

And friends with different abilities help us when we cannot do it ourselves.

My friend, Bracha, from Sde Eliyahu called the day before my radiosurgery and offered to come stay with us over Shabbat and help with whatever we needed. 

We were also invited to spend this Shabbat with my in-laws.  I love going to my in-laws, especially for Shabbat.  We were there just last week!  But I really wanted to be home this week, in my own bed.

There are not many guests who give more than they receive.  Bracha is one of those.  The best part is that she thinks that she is getting more than she receives.  Imagine that!

I am still not sure what I am giving her that matches what she is giving me, but that is the beauty of friendship.  Good friends strengthen each other; together we are better people.



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

With love and optimism,
RivkA