Settling In; Accepting

If this week was about anything, it was about relaxing with the pattern of having a son in the army. Elie came home last weekend. Elie will be home this weekend. He traveled far up north for training last Sunday. He will travel far up north this coming Sunday as well.

We talked once during the week, or maybe twice. I called him to tell him some worrisome news about the child of dear friends because they were coming for lunch and I wanted Elie to already have absorbed the situation. Elie handles things calmly anyway, but I could hear the surprise in his voice when he said, “Your kidding, right?” and then he asked his questions and already I knew he was understanding and accepting. His final, “oh, ok,” told me he was fast approaching the acceptance it took me much longer to reach and the understanding that a recent accident in which the child had been hit by a car was actually, as often these terrible things are, a blessing in disguise (please pray for Chayim Zvi ben Henya Devorah).

Other than that, we confirmed that he would be home on Friday, had spent some time in the field, and we’d talk when he got home. He sounded fine, tired, etc. but overall, he sounded…good, calm, content. I didn’t hear loneliness; I didn’t hear alone. He sounds challenged. He sounded interesting. He sounded good. He feels the limitations of the phone – we know that there are ears that listen and our conversations reflect this. We haven’t worked out a code, a secret language only we understand. We know where he is. We know what he is doing. We know he is safe. We know we will see him soon. For now, that’s enough – for now, that’s the all of it.

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