January 18, 2002
Shabbat Shalom!!
Just a reminder that we have a new email address schlaf@sbcglobal.net
Soooo if you have sent us any news after November 30...at our old address...Please send it again to our new one...
We were in L.A. a few weeks ago for Michael Zeldin and Rabbi Leah Kroll's youngest son's Bar Mitzvah...Noam is just adorable....so bright and personable!
While there we visited with David's brother Joe and wife Barbara....and basically ate our way through L.A....Barbara is an outstanding gourmet chef....and they always know the best restaurants!
Latest news(I think!) Marci Thomas got married......Allison Raffer has a new baby son, Aiden.....Rick Schumacher's son is having a Bar Mitzvah tomorrow...Dan Meyers' daughter became a Bat Mitzvah a few weeks ago.....
I dropped in at a confirmation parent-student dinner the other night...Our new Rabbi invited me to come on in and shmooze with my students... When he saw me talking to some parents he said...I thought you were coming in to see your students....and I said....these confirmation parents were my students....and so are their kids! It was pretty funny to realize that Michelle Raffelson, Scott Silverman, Richie Savitch and Anne Goldberg all have kids in the Confirmation Class!!!
Lani and Erin, Dan and Jill,Sydney and Avi will all be here this weekend......Such fun!
Judith Wolochow and family are in town this week.....can't wait to see Lucien!
Abby Prager(Alison Fisher's daughter)and her parents joined us for Shabbat dinner last week..She and Sydney had the best time.....and Avi loved watching the big kids ...Shabbat is the best when you can see the light of the candles in children's eyes!!
Have a wonderful one!
Love,
Eemah
Please give me some feedback about Jenny Lewis and Steve Kantor's ideas...
Hi Eemah,
I just had coffee today with Steve Kantor, and it was of course wonderful to see each other. The friendships that were forged in those years with you remain very significant. Steve is terrific as ever and great fun to be with. We cast a vote in favor of a summer family camp for your whole mailing list. Or perhaps a winter family camp when a lot of us who now live far away are home visiting anyway. And we both said how much we were enjoying your email messages with all the updates.
I have been in for a few days with my kids visiting parents, etc. and it has been really nice. We are on our way tomorrow to the Bay Area to visit Marc's family next. Hope all is well with you.
xxoo
Jenny
This is Dan Meyers here. My daughter's Bat Mitzvah is this Saturday the 5th of January. I am so excited. Most of my family as well as many old friends will be coming, some from my San Diego days. Just wanted to share my excitement for me, my wife, and my wonderful daughter Lisa (who will also be receiving her Hebrew name "Elisheva" at Friday night services) Dan
Enjoy the following:
And Your Occupation is? Mother
A few months ago, when I was picking up the children at school,
another mother I knew well rushed up to me. Emily was fuming with indignation.
"Do you know what you and I are?" she demanded.
Before I could answer, and I didn't really have one handy, she blurted out the reason for her question. It seemed she had just returned from renewing her driver's license at the County Clerk's office. Asked by the woman recorder to state her occupation. Emily had hesitated, uncertain how to classify herself.
What I mean is, "explained the recorder, "Do you have a job, or areyou just a .....?"
"Of course I have a job," snapped Emily. "I'm a mother."
"We don't list 'mother' as an occupation...'housewife' covers it,"
said the recorder emphatically.
I forgot all about her story until one day I found myself in thesame situation, this time at our own Town Hall. The Clerk was obviously a career woman, poised, efficient, and possessed of a high-sounding
title like official Interrogator or Town Registrar.
"And what is your occupation?" she probed.
What made me say it, I do not know. The words simply popped out.
"I'm a Research Associate in the field of Child Development and Human Relations."
The clerk paused, ball-point pen frozen in midair, and looked up as though she had not heard right. I repeated the title slowly, emphasizing the most significant words. Then I stared with wonder as my pompous
pronouncement was written in bold, black ink on the official questionnaire.
"Might I ask," said the clerk with new interest, "just what you do in your field?"
Coolly, without any trace of fluster in my voice, I heard myself reply, "I have a continuing program of research (what mother doesn't) in the laboratory and in the field (normally I would have said indoors and out). I'm working for my Masters (the whole darned family) and already have four credits (all daughters)." "Of course, the job is one of the most demanding in the humanities (any mother care to disagree?) and I often work 14 hours a day (24 is more like it). But
the job is more challenging than most run-of-the-mill careers and the rewards are in satisfaction rather than just money."
There was an increasing note of respect in the clerk's voice as she completed the form, stood up, and personally ushered me to the door.
As I drove into our driveway, buoyed up by my glamorous new career, I was greeted by my lab assistants - ages 13, 7, and 3. Upstairs I could hear our new experimental model (6 months) in the
child-development program, testing out a new vocal pattern. I felt triumphant! I had scored a beat on bureaucracy! And I had gone on the official records as someone more distinguished and indispensable to mankind than "just another mother."
Motherhood...what a glorious career. Especially when there's a title on the door.
Send this to another Mother you know. Whether a stay at home Mom or a career Mom, we should all carry this title.
INNER PEACE
I have been told
that a way
to achieve
inner peace
is to finish
the things
I have started.
Today I finished
two bags of
potato chips
and a chocolate
cake.
I feel better already
