Two days ago, we were told Elie could come out for the celebration at the Western Wall on Thursday…it meant coming home today so that we could be there early Thursday morning.
I was about to walk out the door when the house phone rang. Because we had gone to the synagogue this morning to watch my youngest son put on tefillin for the first time, I had closed my phone and so when I didn’t answer, Elie called the house telling me not to leave yet. They have authorized him to come for Shabbat…that’s the great news…but now are delaying his coming out today. He may or may not be able to get out today…which means he may or may not be there tomorrow.
I had forgotten the roller-coaster of the army – too focused on getting something, I had forgotten that just because you think you have one thing…you very well might not. So – I might be getting to see Elie today – I might listen to all the things he wants to tell me and have a chance to tell him everything…or I might not. On one side, I could say this is a disappointment, but the more positive way of looking at this is that it really does mean that Israel is settling back into normal, even the army.
As I was walking into the synagogue, two soldiers were walking out, one a friend’s son. He looks good. I smiled and greeted him and he smiled and greeted me in return. He is happy to be back home with his family. Another return to normal.
I hope Elie will be there – knowing he will be with us for Shabbat brings tremendous gratitude that far outweighs whatever disappointment I might be feeling now. I’m still hopeful he’ll call me and tell me to drop everything and drive down to get him…and I will. I’m even tempted to do the last minute errands I have to do for the bar mitzvah and then around the time he thinks he’ll know, perhaps arrange it so that I’m on the closer side towards him – saving at least 30 minutes of the trip.
We’ll see – as always with a son in the armym you never know. So we have Shabbat…but we may or may not have tomorrow with Elie. It’s a good trade, if I had to make it. The only problem is it means trading seeing him NOW versus seeing him a little later. I’m a mother – we excel in patience. We demand it of our children. Now, all I have to do is exercise it.
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