Two Sleeping Bags….

We had a bit of a situation the other night. Elie was leaving for two days for Reserve Duty (miluim). It was a special call up for only certain parts of the units and not the entire group. He was told they’d be sleeping outside and to bring a sleeping bag. He came over and we pulled out two sleeping bags. One Davidi had been using (um…we think that was toothpaste stuck to the side) and one Aliza had been using (we know that was twigs and thorns stuck inside…and HOW did it get inside?). Both should have been washed.

A bit annoyed, and justifiably so, Elie took the one from Davidi’s room and Aliza under protest pulled off the thorns and twigs and threw it into the washing machine (with tons of fabric conditioner so it smells heavenly now). Problem not really solved because Elie still wasn’t happy about the toothpaste, but we weren’t sure the other bag would dry in time. We hung it out on the line with hopes it would be ready. And then, Davidi came home to remind me that he had a tiyul shnati – which is a yearly school trip involving sleeping over somewhere and…yup, he needed a sleeping bag.

“Where’s the sleeping bag?” he asked. So Davidi took the wet one; Elie found another one in his apartment. Two sleeping bags, two sons sleeping outside – one in the north and one in the south. One on a school trip, one called up to national service.

Ah, life in Israel – I have always loved how often and how easily we sleep outside here, eat outside. A few years ago, we were up north and there was supposed to be a meteor shower. We pulled mattresses and sleeping bags outside and set up to watch the show. And as we were all lying there in various directions, one of my kids said they remembered us doing this years before on the large balcony upstairs in our previous house.

I was so touched they had this memory – of us all lying out there under the skies. Both times, some of us fell asleep long before the few falling stars turned into an almost constant rain of stars, but the memory remains…

Now I just have to remember to buy another sleeping bag…and get Davidi to wash his when he gets back.