08/19/2022
My summer takeaways are “Savor the Good Times!” and “Don’t sweat the small stuff”.
These past seven weeks have been an incredible time of fabulous highs. The trip to Israel, the wedding of our grandchild, the anticipation of a new baby in our family coming soon and another in January, and spending quality time doing nothing with our Israeli children both in Israel and now here.
I watch my kids pack for their Monday departure with a pit of sadness in my stomach.
As I observed with my children and newly married grandchildren, once they move out of your home to begin a life of their own, optimally to live close but sometimes far, life as you knew it changes dramatically. We pray that our children pick life partners who will make room for you in their lives. We have been blessed but not everyone is so lucky.
Our children live near and far. COVID made it really hard as we did not get to see the far, we somehow managed to stay in touch and remain close. The incredible simcha this summer was the first time in three years that almost all of our family was together.
I may be repeating myself but it means so much to me and Bob, so very much, we cherish our family above all else.
In the ongoing saga of my sad tired house, the new fridge does not have a shabbos mode; why did we think we could save some money? We figured we could just take out the bulb on shabbos and we would be good to go. This is no longer the case with modern appliances; there is no such thing as just pulling out the bulb. With new technology, a red indicator light saying “door is open”, automatically goes on as soon as you open the door; a big no no on shabbos.
We called the lovely guy Linda Koegel recommended, Stan Leibman(number available upon request) who had gotten us the fridge and asked for guidance. He directed us to Frigidaire and Bob waited on hold for over an hour for two days in a row. He finally got the tech guy who listened, investigated, and called us back with the bad news that the situation could not be amended; the light stays on!
Options included going away every shabbos, only using the fridge downstairs that mostly works, or selling this one and buying another new one. Not really.
Stan was awesome and helpful; he figured out a way to exchange it for a model that works on shabbos. Another $800 and we are getting a shabbos compatible GE, that is coming Wednesday. This shabbos, we are hosting 12 including us and being without a fridge on the main floor is not an option. Our Canadien grandson’s dorm fridge has been lounging in the garage all summer; we pulled it out, hosed it down and it’s filled and ready to go.
He is coming Monday and the Israelis leave Monday afternoon.
We are blessed.
In conclusion, we enjoyed an aimless and glorious month in Israel. We came home on a Tuesday to a broken dryer. Then the fridge decided it’s time on earth was done, went into a warm coma and died. The new one came and soon became a shabbos issue. It was sleek and worked well, though measured almost exactly the same as the old one, was much smaller than the tried and true one that died. The overburdened rack for clothes collapsed from the weight of the wedding and Sheva Bracha dresses strewing everything hither and yon, the ceiling in the living room cracked feeling left out of the cracks in two places in the kitchen and the toilet in the basement reminded us why being a homeowner brings special joy.
We are savoring the good times and not sweating the small stuff; life is good. Here is hoping that as you start the new year, you can do the same.
Shabbat Shalom.
Comments