Oops
So I meant to post from Israel. Then I meant to post about our trip after we got back. Now somehow it's October and Erev Yom Kippur and I haven't posted anything at all since the end of August.
Oops.
Things have been happening. Good things, bad things, work things, family things, normal things, crazy things.
The trip was ... amazing, but complicated. The wedding was beautiful. My cousin's new hubby (whom I had not met before) is a mensch. SP has now swum in an actual sea ("Mommy! The water is salty!!"), and I have floated in the Mediterranean, out beyond the surf, watching the sun set (an experience I highly recommend). We went to the Kotel (PSA: one day is not enough time to spend in Jerusalem). We floated in the Dead Sea, an experience I would summarize as "Dead Sea: Check. Next?" And so on. We took 400 photos, many of them crappy. I'll try to get around to posting some.
Then we came back. OMG do Grade 4s get a lot of homework. OMG do I not understand how elementary math is taught these days. (I want -- I really want, I am not being snarky -- to know what the purpose is of asking 9-year-olds to "write a pattern rule" for the "position pattern" shown by a hundreds chart on which every third number is circled. I understand the point of teaching them to detect number patterns, but position patterns? What's going on there? Would I be better at math if I understood what this is about? 'Cos I wouldn't mind being better at math...)
Anyway.
So here we are on Erev Y"K, and I feel like I have a lot to atone for this year and haven't left myself any time to do that. Cyber-atonement? I don't know. I have some goals for the new year, though: to be more patient with the often patience-trying SP; to fight harder against the impulse toward passive-aggressive comments; to focus more on things that matter, and screw around less with things that don't.
In the past kateelliott has quoted Isaiah 58, the section of the haftarah for Y"K that begins, "Is this the fast that I have chosen?" In that spirit, I offer this excellent 2005 Erev Y"K sermon by one Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, which takes that line from Isaiah 58:5 as its title and theme.
May we all be sealed in the Book of Life for a healthy, happy, and peaceful new year.
Oops.
Things have been happening. Good things, bad things, work things, family things, normal things, crazy things.
The trip was ... amazing, but complicated. The wedding was beautiful. My cousin's new hubby (whom I had not met before) is a mensch. SP has now swum in an actual sea ("Mommy! The water is salty!!"), and I have floated in the Mediterranean, out beyond the surf, watching the sun set (an experience I highly recommend). We went to the Kotel (PSA: one day is not enough time to spend in Jerusalem). We floated in the Dead Sea, an experience I would summarize as "Dead Sea: Check. Next?" And so on. We took 400 photos, many of them crappy. I'll try to get around to posting some.
Then we came back. OMG do Grade 4s get a lot of homework. OMG do I not understand how elementary math is taught these days. (I want -- I really want, I am not being snarky -- to know what the purpose is of asking 9-year-olds to "write a pattern rule" for the "position pattern" shown by a hundreds chart on which every third number is circled. I understand the point of teaching them to detect number patterns, but position patterns? What's going on there? Would I be better at math if I understood what this is about? 'Cos I wouldn't mind being better at math...)
Anyway.
So here we are on Erev Y"K, and I feel like I have a lot to atone for this year and haven't left myself any time to do that. Cyber-atonement? I don't know. I have some goals for the new year, though: to be more patient with the often patience-trying SP; to fight harder against the impulse toward passive-aggressive comments; to focus more on things that matter, and screw around less with things that don't.
In the past kateelliott has quoted Isaiah 58, the section of the haftarah for Y"K that begins, "Is this the fast that I have chosen?" In that spirit, I offer this excellent 2005 Erev Y"K sermon by one Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, which takes that line from Isaiah 58:5 as its title and theme.
May we all be sealed in the Book of Life for a healthy, happy, and peaceful new year.