Stopover

in Germany. At 12° Celcius, we are shivering through the days. Yair already caught himself a virus. He is caughing and has a temperature. Apart from that, we are hanging around the house in a state of utter listlessness. Complete lack of motivation. I find it hard to lift my hand to drink a glass of water. Or go to the bathroom. I guess this last month of constant pressure and hundreds of errands has taken its toll. I have no idea how Shai will find the power to get packed again and board his plane to San Francisco on Thursday.

In the meantime, Yair is improving his German. Or my parents their Hebrew. Or I my translation skills. However you want to look at it. We definitely need two more weeks here before we move on with our lives.

Final days

It has been a hectic month, this July, to say the least. But over the next few days, things are going to calm down. Today is my last day at work, and I am extremely proud that I have gotten through it without even shedding as much as a single tear. How afraid I was of this day to come! For weeks and weeks on end, the mere thought of leaving my work and these great people behind brought me to the brink of tears. And all of a sudden it is behind me, just like that. Tomorrow we are having a farewell party at Yair's preschool, on Shabbat everybody is invited over to our open house, and Sunday morning we will board the plane and take off to Germany to spend some time with my family before we move on. Finally, the time has come.

Attached

Last week I said good-bye to my hair dresser. And don't underestimate the emotions involved. It was much harder than you might think. Almost as hard as parting from my cleaning lady, which left me all crying. I have grown close to both of them over time. I will miss the juicy Friday-afternoon chats with her in the kitchen. And after all, he has done my hair for over six years. Six years! Well, I don't know what these things tell about me. But I am fearing the good-byes lying ahead of me. I will have to take in an extra dose of fluids, or else these coming weeks will leave me all wrecked up.

Daily wisdom

This is what came up this morning when I searched our database for open bugs...

The great thing about television is that if something important happens anywhere in the world, day or night, you can always change the channel.

And since there are no major issues to fix, I will start taking screen captures instead. Have a great day, everyone!

A bigger plan

Today I spent a great deal of my time thinking of my (supposed) future brother in law. He is a humorous, good-natured person, a young, talented carpenter who just graduated from a master course. Looking for a suitable new position, he meanwhile returned to his previous employer.

Fate had it that yesterday, while finishing up a piece of work, he moved his hand too close to a saw trying to remove a piece of wood. Two fingers got detached. Luckily, his co-workers immediately rushed over to help, and within a matter of minutes he found himself in a helicopter on his way to a hospital specialized in hand surgery. Another 5.5 hours later, during which doctors did a fine job reattaching the cut-off limbs to his hand, blood was back circulating in his fingers, and he could feel a slight pulse.

Thanks to his cool-headed, well-trained colleagues, he will be able to use his hand again eventually. Hopefully, he will also be able to return to his beloved profession. I am sending him lots of good thoughts and positive energy for a quick and uncomplicated recovery.

Somehow, I believe that everything happens for a reason. There is a bigger plan that puts everything into perspective, into a context of its own. But only later on will we see the whole picture, understand the reasoning behind it, the powers that be. If ever. At this stage, who knows what this accident was good for?

Daily life

I am gearing up at work, one last time. All of a sudden (though not surprisingly), there are so many things to deal with that I have hardly time to breathe. I am also attending to all kinds of other affairs: physicians, immunizations, bank issues, friends. Add a husband who keeps occupying the computer, and you are left with precious little time for posting anything out of the ordinary. At the moment, the very one is hiding in the bath room, taking a well-deserved shower, but soon he will peek in to claim his seat. Luckily, he has all kinds of excuses, the best being that he has to take this or that exam in order to prepare for business school. Can I refuse?

Love, Security, Routine

Today, we finally got to see a speech therapist with Yair. He has been stuttering for quite a while now, and since he talked like a waterfall before, telling all kinds of stories and whispering secrets into our ears, this is alarming all the more. We suspect the stuttering may be related to our moving to Berkeley, to all the changes we are currently going through. I actually thought that talking with him about the move as much as possible would be the wisest thing to do, but apparently it has just scared him and made his little world become insecure. After all, he is such a sensitive boy. And not even 2.5 years old.

Yael, the speech therapist, didn't really tell us anything new, anything we didn't already know. Stuttering is a common phenomenon in children his age. She played intensely with him for about half an hour, noted that the stuttering is rather mild and will most likely disappear over time, handed us a list of Dos and Don'ts that will help us support Yair's speech development the best we can, and wished us good luck. No therapy for kids under 4. But at least we got some expert advice before we leave. Hopefully, in a few months' time, things will have settled down and straightened out. Love, security, and routine are the keys.

The Journey Starts

Although I studied American literature (way back, in a distant life) and English has been my language at work for many years now, I have not dared to do any creative writing other than in German, my mother tongue. It is somewhat strange to actually get down a post in English. It simply doesn't feel natural. It is not the technical writing kind of style I have gotton used to. So used to that I catch myself erasing unnecessary words, avoiding wordiness at all costs, keeping sentences short, paragraphs to the point, words simple. Yes. That's what it has come down to. I constantly live in three languages, but each language has its clear time, place, and usage. And blogging in English has not been on the agenda. But as of today, I will do my very best.

Because today the journey starts. The boat leaves its sacred haven. Our belongings begin their long way across the ocean, to the other land, to the western coast, to the distant city that is going to be our home for the next couple of years or so. I know many tears will be cried over our departing. Hopefully, these little posts will help ease the pain. We are only leaving in order to come back. We will shed our own tears. We are not going light-heartedly. We will miss you dearly. Yet, we are determined to enjoy this time away from home. It's a chance, after all. To get to know the unknown, to breathe fresh air, to delve into new adventures. And to then return, embracing what we once left as the things we appreciate the most.