…are quiet and easy. I don’t think I wrote this before…but I slipped and fell last week. Made me feel like a clutz! I deserved it, in a way – I was rushing because I couldn’t find parking and so I gave in to the urge to just park in front of a carton recycling box (better than the way other people block someone else’s car in, but still not completely legal). It was 6:45 p.m. and the yarn store was closing.
I’m making Davidi a blanket and running out of the gorgeous blue color I need and slip…boom. I fell on my hip (yeah, me – I didn’t break it or even hurt it very much) and on my elbow…ouch. My elbow is fine – actually, all of me is fine, but my left arm (and yes, I’m left-handed) hurts and I have limited mobility – even a few days later.
What was amazing was my family. Amira and Lauren offered (and did) cook things for the weekend; Elie took me shopping; Davidi helped me unload and unpack. Aliza did TONS of dishes. Shmulik came to visit and asked if I needed help and moved things around. In short – my babies took care of me!
My husband was wonderful…sweet and caring and I’ve been walking holding on to his arm because when I come to an incline or stairs, I have this clear picture of myself tumbling down. I’ll get over it, but in the meantime, it’s kind of fun to hold his arm!
Elie drove me to work yesterday; Lazer came later and picked me up and we went to a meeting and out to dinner. Today, Elie drove me in again and Lazer will take me home. I’m not really up to driving yet.
There are reports in the news that are scary – massacres continue in Syria; Iran is moving ever closer; Hezbollah is heavily armed with rockets and missiles that can reach most of Israel. It’s enough to cripple you, if you think about it too hard or for too long.
But mostly, I want to tell you that the tree outside my office window is the most amazing shade of green (even through the dirty window that the building refuses to wash). Hundreds of new, tiny leaves are growing and all the leaves are still shiny and clean from recent rains.
Spring has come to Israel; the rainy season is in its last days. I love rain – I’m going to miss those wonderful, cold, wet days in the coming months as we enter our dry spring and summer months.
For now, Israel is awash with color – the flowers are everywhere – in the windows, in the gardens, sold on street corners, and in the front of my house again. The open fields have high grass growing wild. Soon, the grass will whither, as it does each year, and turn golden and yellow. It will break in the wind, leaving the ground ready again for next year’s rain. A cycle that conquers time and man; a promise from the heavens to the ground. It is a rebirth we watch each year, marvel at its beauty and wait for it again and again.
Last week, we celebrated Israel’s Independence Day – the Israeli flag still flies in so many places. The government buildings and many office buildings still have long runners of flags handing down their sides. Even many of the cars have the Israeli flags flying from the rear windows.
We’ve learned – you don’t put the flag in the front window because invariably, you end up opening it for a second and as you travel 80 or so kilometers an hour – the flag goes flying. We see dozens of them on the roads as we drive past – they too will be picked up at some point, but for now, they often remain.
The little green car across the street has been there all day – with two blue and white flags in the back windows. The car in front of it had a flag as well. The building across the street had flats that stretch four stories high flanking the entrance to the building.
So, for this week, at least, Israel is green and blue and white and quiet. Quiet is good.Syria is on fire. Lebanon a threat we may have to deal with soon. Gaza burps missiles at us now and then, a reminder that they can start the next war anytime THEY want and we will once again be forced to respond.
For now, we let them belch out their little aggressions (yeah, it might not be a word…poetic license here). The children are finishing up school for the year; they can already smell summer vacation coming…just two months and a few days away.
We’re good, we want to tell the world. We’re fine. My city won a national award for education; so did all of Israel win an international award.
We’re at peace with ourselves, if not our neighbors. Yeah, we have this problem and that but we’re really okay. This group doesn’t like that group; this one things the other one is misguided – but what the world fails to understand is that even if we don’t like someone, how they raise their kids or follow their religion – we still have a love inside ourselves for them. They are a part of us…we know it and they know it and truthfully, when it comes to the outside, there is no we and them. We might slip and fall, but we’ll help each other back up, we’ll conquer the mountains, the missiles, and the moments where we think about what could happen if…
Days like today…remind me that life is good…it really, really is…and it reminds me that tomorrow will come…but only tomorrow, not today. Tomorrow, we can worry about all sorts of things…but not today…not today.
Leave a Reply