A Nomad's Sanctuary: all she wanted was a kiss

Happy New Year, to my fellow Jews! I hope everyone had a fabulous day off yesterday, either at temple or just relaxing at home. I went to temple both yesterday and today; usually I just attend the typical Thursday morning service along with the rest of the reform community, but this year I decided to go for the lesser day, as well. I'm not sure what inspired me to attend the second day; perhaps it was the lovely women sitting next to me Thursday morning. The woman who just wanted a kiss. Where am I going with this?

Sitting next to me at services was a lively 83 year old woman (clad in an adorable matching suit outfit, mind you). She represented the sort of woman I wish to be when I grow old; the sort that doesn't dream of letting her age steal her vitality. I'd like to think of myself as quite an amicable person, so of course, I greeted her right when she sat down and wished her a "L'shana Tovah", or a Happy New Year. I felt like I knew this women for years, she told me of her 11 grandchildren and her husband's passing 4 years prior, while I told her stories of my 93 year old great grandfather and other rantings.

Back to the kiss. If you're jewish, you'll recognize what I'm talking about next. If you're not, no worries, I'll explain! There comes a time in the service where the Rabbi parades the Torah around the sanctuary, while all the praying people in the room approach the migrating rabbi as s/he nears their seat. Once the Rabbi and Torah are in reach, the pray-er kisses their siddur and then touches it to the Torah. I am not entirely sure what the point of this is (bad Jew!), but I know it is tradition. When the Torah came around, the woman next to me PUSHED to get to the end of the aisle, for she was actually FRIGHTENED that she was going to miss the rabbi passing by. Of course, her pushing didn't upset me, but upon her arrival back to the seat, she told me that another elderly woman towards the end of the aisle was upset. She said to me, "I didn't mean to push! I feel terrible I upset her. All I wanted was a little kiss".

Moments after this was said, I felt an immense connection to her words. I thought, how many times have I wanted something so badly that I didn't realize I may have been "pushing" someone else in order to get there? I think we all can connect with this. We all know and understand desire. We all especially know what it is like to feel that we would do ANYTHING to achieve that desire. This got me thinking for the rest of the day, have I done anything recently where I may have unintentionally hurt someone in order to achieve something for myself? Obviously, I have. At this rate, I'm sending out plenty of "I'm sorry" letters. Repentance starts....NOW!

don't feel like writing any sort of segue into the next bit, so, this is it. [insert intelligent segue, here]

This is what I wore to a family brunch on Friday in honor of the new year. I incorporated two of my favorite fall colors: camel, and sea foam greeny/blue. I need more of this pale blue color. Too bad I'm completely broke.