Good Morning from Michigan

Dunkin Donuts for brunch... :)

Yellow Suitcase

Now that my mother has gotten up from Shiva, I went with my parents today to clean out my Bubby's apartment. We were there for 4 hours and cleaned out one bedroom, the bathroom, the coat closet, and half the kitchen. It was so strange rifling through and tossing my Bubby's stuff that she's collected over so many decades. She was saving things. For what, I have no idea. Maybe she thought there would be a plastic shortage one day, and that's why she needed 700 plastic bags.

We didn't even get to the fun stuff today - old pictures, letters - but I did find my mother's report card from 11th Grade, a coat I remember my Bubby wearing in the winters, and a yellow 70's-print suitcase she used to come off the bus with and carry to our house when she came for Shabbos. I'm not even sure the younger kids remember it at all.

To my siblings: The suitcase is still in good condition, and I CALL IT! I also call 2 cookie cutters, the matchboxes I rescued from the kitchen drawer, and the blue cigarette box and lighter I made Abba put in the "keep" box. There is still so much to look through, though, and I'm sure you'll find tons of stuff, too. The End.

Air is the Sane One as Usual

Today I was feeling angry, and my sister who is visiting reminded me (scolded really) that the reason we don't have our precious Beit HaMikdash is because of the Sin'at Chinam of our and previous generations. She told me that if we continue to hate, we'll be sitting on the floor next Tisha B'Av again instead of watching a parade in Yerushalayim. While I take issue with the word "Chinam" in this particular case, and even "Sin'ah" isn't quite right here, I was calmed by simple guilt.

After many hours of fasting and being VERY bored, I told Air I was angry, too. He didn't toss me the Beit HaMikdash card. He simply told me to forget it. The person is irrelevant, and so why should I feel anything at all?

I wish I could arrive at blissful indifference already. It's taking too long.

The car was totaled, and we're getting a new one

A picture says a thousand words

I was in the passenger seat so I took most of the impact. Air has a line of blue across his belly where the seatbelt hit him. And his neck hurts. The kids have welts on their shoulders where their seatbelts were, Thank God. And I am purple everywhere my seatbelt touched, plus my knee which hit the front of the car. The airbags worked and felt like pillow. And we all walked (I ran holding my five-year-old) away from the crash. We were rushed by ambulance to the nearest hospital where my aunt met us and took care of us. The doctors were great and we were released within 3 hours.

Just for your info, Air was not at fault. We had a green and the cross-street's light wasn't working. The other driver just kept going and ended up in front of us suddenly. We hit her broadside on her passenger side. She also walked away from the scene.

By the way, this was at 6:30 a.m. on our way back from the airport where D and I arrived from Prague.

One, Two, Three, Pazatzta!!

One of the fantastic fathers who is traveling with us riled up the kids in between a double-header which began with a disappointing loss. After this relay race, they were feeling better about themselves and not thinking too much about the first round of cursing and screaming that some of the psychotic parents did at their coaches after the first game. After the second round of screaming and cursing, however, nothing could get the kids calmed down or to stop crying until one of the funnier kids started passing gas on the bus-ride back to the dorm. Always a winner among preteen-aged boys.

(I know, I know, there's more to the story. Give me some time to finish digesting what happened...)

Who Shops Here?

What kind of idiot would buy jewelry from a place that admits what they think of their customers?

Having a good time, ya'll. Will update another time. I'm just too tired.

Next Stop, Czech Republic

My kid is going to the Czech Republic tonight. Back in March, he tried out for the national little league team. He made the first cut, and was invited to a mini camp. He made the cut there, and was one of 20 kids to be selected to the team.

Of those 20, 15 were supposed to be selected to make the travel team. Again, my oldest made the cut. As time went on, he cracked the starting lineup, and now, he is the starting catcher on his team.

Over the past few months, he has attended numerous practices. In addition, he had his own local team to play on, All Star team games, and over the past week, he has spent five hours a day at baseball camp, practicing and working on his game.

And so tonight, he is off. Together with Veev, he will go have the time of his life. For the next week, he is an emmisary of Israel. He has the chance to go out and meet kids from Central Europe, and show them what Israeli kids are really like. He'll stand tall at the singing of HaTikvah, and then play his hardest to try and help his country win as many games as they can in this tournament.

Highlights at eleven.

From our Listserve....

"We received a call from the police last night asking whether we were the owners of a small bag that had the name 'B.P.' on it, that was discovered in Yigal Yadin Street. We don't know any 'B.P.' in Modi'in (do I have a long-lost relative in the area?!) so it seems that the bag was treated as a suspect package and dealt with accordingly. Does anyone know of a 'B.P' or did anyone drop a gift on Yigal Yadin that was meant for us (we had a brit milah celebration yesterday)? In any case, I'm sorry to say that the bag was on the receiving end of a controlled explosion. S.P."

Dear Readers,

Welcome to Israel. Don't leave your stuff outside unattended.

Veev