whenever one door closes i hope one more opens//nfty socal spring kallah 5765
it feels like yesterday that i was getting my first nfty bead at LTI back in October. Sitting in a room full of Jews. . . i didnt feel like an outsider but I felt like I had a lot of people to meet. That weekend, I can guarantee you, two, maybe three other people besides my board knew my name.
I am proud to say that I feel that I've met all of those people, and they all know my name, and I've shared countless memories with them.
I am a junior and it was my first year in NFTY. Though I started two years late, the friendships and lessons i've gained have made up for the 2 years i missed. I went to every event, and at every event, I loved it even more.
If you were to ask me in September what my hobbies were and who my best friends were, i'd say my hobbies were shopping and listening to music, and my best friends were Sara and Jacob.
Today, my hobbies are AETY, NFTY, and anything to do with those two. My closest friends are my board, Sara, and all several NFTYites---Sunny, Joel, Hannah Reff, Sara Osias...and many more.
Today I came home from Spring Kallah. I cried today, a lot. Not because I thought I'd never see the people in NFTY again, because I know that I will remain close with the ones that mean so much to me, but because of how much I've grown because of NFTY. Because of how mcuh I've changed this year, but the one constant thing was NFTY. If I was having a shitty day, or I just wasnt happy, I could always say, Its fine, NFTY in 2 weeks..or whatever the time was.
Today I realized that NFTY is the most amazing thing that can ever happen to any young person. It makes high school go away, if only for a weekend, adn it makes you smile, always.
I realized the true words of "gonna live and die n-f-t-y". becuase these people have seen me through all of this year, and have made some of my closest friends along the way.
My userpicture is me with one nfty bead.
I look down now at my 5 and smile.
As Molly Vener said, "its not about the bead, it's about the memories". I could not agree more. It's about looking down and rememebering certain things from each event, and smiling during class in rememberance.
It's about laughing about things that are hardly funny, but mean a whole lot to you.
and its about knowing t hat no matter what you say, youll be loved and treated with kavod.
thank you nfty southern california
for honestly changing my life.
-lauren rachel peikoff