A Husband in the Making

It is interesting watching a husband being made. It happens in the weeks before the wedding, I think. There is that slow transition from the boy to the man that I saw with Elie, but there is an added level of responsibility. Shmulik is taking a wife (and to be balanced and fair, being taken by one to be a husband).

He’s got so much on his mind now. He’s helping us get the apartment ready. We have to order a kitchen (the final order will be placed on Sunday and should be in place by Tuesday). We need to paint the apartment – I don’t know when or how.

He’s got to have the furniture they ordered delivered; he still doesn’t have a suit. The invitations arrived and we have to give them out or mail them – hopefully tomorrow. Maybe I’m projecting my feelings and pressure on him? I don’t think so, but it is hard to tell.

It’s funny how life is sometimes – when Amira was getting married and Elie was about to go into the army; things seemed simpler then. Of course, it can’t be true. My youngest was only 7 and still a little girl. Now she is 11 and so much more independent. With Amira, it was our first wedding and there was so much we didn’t know. And yet, it really did feel like it was easier last time around.

Three weeks…and we still haven’t gotten clothes for everyone (or really anyone); the apartment isn’t done; so many details.

Life is a bit surreal right now – two worlds swirling around. There is the world of family and this wedding, and there is the outside world. Rioting and demonstrations in the Arab world; rock attacks, fire bombings, and rockets and missiles in this other world. There was a siren test in Jerusalem today – we didn’t even hear it. Not a good sign.

Clinton is going to visit Tunisia and Egypt. The Sea of Galilee went up 7 centimeters as a result of this latest storm that is hitting Israel now. The UN is accusing Israel of kidnapping a Palestinian engineer. Three hundred refugees attempted to cross into Israel from Egypt in the last week alone, seeking refuge and a better life than what they had in Africa. A rocket hit Israel today, again fired from Gaza. And the Dalai Lama stepped down as political leader of Tibet.

What does it all mean? I don’t have a clue – all I know is that in my little world, we feel the earth is yet again shaking a bit as our family once again shifts and expands. It’s a nice feeling, after all to have a son turn into a husband, to watch as he accepts that he has met his partner for life and begins to build a world for her and around her.

Their apartment is taking shape – it will be a sweet home. May it always be blessed with health and happiness, graced with love and with children in the years to come.

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