Shabbaton

[cellio]

This weekend was my congregation's annual shabbaton (Shabbat retreat). A couple dozen of us, mostly regulars from the morning minyan, go to a cabin in rural PA to pray, study, talk, and eat. It's something I always look forward to, and this year was once again a good experience.

Comments

non-parents can be very helpful too

[chaos_wrangler]

He left early; I guess my non-parent status shows, because I don't see why those few hours mattered. He wasn't having a child, after all.

Having been a non-parent adult helper (mostly taking care of the older siblings 'cause the parent(s) were full-time busy with the new one) and having seen how well my brother's kids respond to their beloved "saba" - sometimes better than they respond to my brother and his wife - I think having a non-parent present when mom likely has little energy left and dad may be overwhelmed can be a very good thing.

(and you thought I'd comment on the shabbat/Jewish stuff, right? *g*)

Re: non-parents can be very helpful too

[cellio]

(and you thought I'd comment on the shabbat/Jewish stuff, right? *g*)

:-) The thought did occur to me when I saw who the comment was from.

Grandma was already in town, and I think there are other local relatives, so I don't think Joe needed to rush back. But maybe he was too excited to be able to pay attention to what we were doing? Dunno.

A lot of people seem to crave immediacy; when it's something where I can't make a difference, I don't. These are the people who will call relatives in other cities in the middle of the night to let them know that someone has gone into labor -- really, it could wait until morning, but there are people who would be upset to not know right away, even though it makes no practicel difference. Different strokes, I guess.