Shabbat in the suburbs
On Wednesday evening, I realized I had no Shabbat plans. Then I realized that it seemed like everyone I know was going away for the weekend - my parents included. As it turns out, there were a few people around this Shabbat, but I still owe a big thank-you to mysticengineer for getting me invited to her family for the weekend.
It was so wonderful to see siblings being siblings in the most positive of ways, and to see a not-quite-two-year-old show off how smart she is. In addition to chasing her Dodah (aunt) all around the house, she demonstrated her partial knowledge of the A-B-C song by pointing to the letter "N" on my shoe, and declaring, "A-b-c!" and by repeating the letters the adults were reciting for her - or reciting the following letter. Of course, it quickly became obvious what her favorite letter is: "Double-yoooo!"
It was also great to have a break from the city, hear the birds in the morning, sleep late, spend two days in a house with two stories and multiple rooms, and not wake up to the not-yet-cleaned mess in my own room. I got a mini vacation from all of my stresses - which must, alas, now be faced over the next few days. I also got to go shopping in an actual mall - and even bought a couple of things!
And I got to see mysticengineer's father being silly. This, I am told, is not a side of him that people outside of the family often get to see. Of course, it helped that his granddaughter (see the reference to the not-quite-two-year-old above) brings out his silliness in a special way. It's amazing how a little kid can bring out the child in so many grown-up people.
Alas, I had to leave them all behind to return to reality this evening, though thankfully much refreshed. And it didn't hurt that, on the way home, about two minutes before the train went underground, I saw a small piece of rainbow. It was a very short band, short and wide, with all the colors kind of smeared in a patch against the sky. I said the brachah... even though I didn't know it by heart. Instead, I relied on mysticengineer's memory - aren't cell phones wonderful? (Sorry for interrupting your dinner, though...)
It was so wonderful to see siblings being siblings in the most positive of ways, and to see a not-quite-two-year-old show off how smart she is. In addition to chasing her Dodah (aunt) all around the house, she demonstrated her partial knowledge of the A-B-C song by pointing to the letter "N" on my shoe, and declaring, "A-b-c!" and by repeating the letters the adults were reciting for her - or reciting the following letter. Of course, it quickly became obvious what her favorite letter is: "Double-yoooo!"
It was also great to have a break from the city, hear the birds in the morning, sleep late, spend two days in a house with two stories and multiple rooms, and not wake up to the not-yet-cleaned mess in my own room. I got a mini vacation from all of my stresses - which must, alas, now be faced over the next few days. I also got to go shopping in an actual mall - and even bought a couple of things!
And I got to see mysticengineer's father being silly. This, I am told, is not a side of him that people outside of the family often get to see. Of course, it helped that his granddaughter (see the reference to the not-quite-two-year-old above) brings out his silliness in a special way. It's amazing how a little kid can bring out the child in so many grown-up people.
Alas, I had to leave them all behind to return to reality this evening, though thankfully much refreshed. And it didn't hurt that, on the way home, about two minutes before the train went underground, I saw a small piece of rainbow. It was a very short band, short and wide, with all the colors kind of smeared in a patch against the sky. I said the brachah... even though I didn't know it by heart. Instead, I relied on mysticengineer's memory - aren't cell phones wonderful? (Sorry for interrupting your dinner, though...)