I am back in the saddle
today after taking Monday off for Yom Kippur.
I have to say that this year’s holiday was quite a bit different than past such holidays, because my father was not there to celebrate it with our family.
But we did get through it.
My mother and I said yiskor for him not in a synagogue, but in the house.
Funny, for some reason, I wanted to see if it was OK to do this in a residence rather than a synagogue, but reciting the Jewish prayer for those who have passed on is permissible if said in places away from a temple, so we did it that way.
Not that we would not have done it if it wasn’t permissible, but I guess this just made it better in our own minds.
Later in the day, we celebrated the end of the Yom Kippur fast with my sister’s family. I was the only one who fasted this year all the way through, and I have to say that it was a good and easy fast: no major hunger pains and no buzz headaches or anything like that.
And I ate and ate and ate some more, probably overdoing it a bit, but that is what I did.
Prior to the Yom Kippur holiday, on Saturday, it was the next permutation of this year’s Record Store Day, broken up into three separate days due to the pandemic.
I did not purchase very much—I am on a budget and honestly, there wasn’t very much that suited my fancy to begin with—but I went, I bought and I conquered.
What more can I say?
I also gave a donation to an animal cause supported by my local record store, so I feel good about my participation in this year’s RSD celebration.
And then later on Saturday, my son’s bowling league started.
This is an important milestone for the participants, including my son, who have not seen many of their fellow participants in about six months due to the pandemic.
It is time to try to start moving toward normalcy again, and for my son, this is one giant step forward.
He is on the same team as he always is, but what the league did is to limit the teams to three participants each, rather than four, to cut down on the contact between the players.
They also take temperatures of all the participants and the parents that are there, and we have to fill out a few forms attesting to the fact that everybody is OK and free of the coronavirus.
There are dividers between the lanes to further protect the players.
“Slapping five” is not allowed, but you can “elbow bump” if the occasion arises.
I had taken my son to practice bowl since the bowling alleys reopened in our area, so he had about five weeks of practice under his belt prior to this first day of the league, and I am happy to say that the practice time helped my son immensely.
He bowled as good as he has ever bowled on opening day, scoring 185 and 167 scores. Since he is generally a 123 to 125 bowler, this was absolutely amazing, and with everyone cheering him on, I knew he felt so good about finally doing something that he loves to do.
We dedicated his games to the memory of his grandfather, who I just know was looking down from heaven and smiling from ear to ear at his grandson’s accomplishments.
On late Sunday, as Yom Kippur was starting, the WWE had a pay per view event, “Clash of Champions,” that I watched with my son, and it managed to keep me up the entire three hours that it was on.
It actually was quite good this time around, so it kept both myself and my son going as a fun event, one that capped an interesting weekend and one that heralded the beckoning Jewish new year.
We are not a religious family, but we are Jews, and this new year affirms our faith in God and everything that happened to us during the past year and will happen to us in the coming year.
So far, so good.
Now, if we can find out the future for my son with his job, everything will pretty much be in place for a rebound year.
I can only hope, and pray, that we find out soon, and it is a positive.
If I had one wish for the year, my wish would be that we all get back to some normalcy, and that includes getting my son back to his job.
I don’t have that magic lamp to rub, and I don’t have Barbara Eden to grand me my wish.
But at least I can hope, and maybe dream a little … .
I have to say that this year’s holiday was quite a bit different than past such holidays, because my father was not there to celebrate it with our family.
But we did get through it.
My mother and I said yiskor for him not in a synagogue, but in the house.
Funny, for some reason, I wanted to see if it was OK to do this in a residence rather than a synagogue, but reciting the Jewish prayer for those who have passed on is permissible if said in places away from a temple, so we did it that way.
Not that we would not have done it if it wasn’t permissible, but I guess this just made it better in our own minds.
Later in the day, we celebrated the end of the Yom Kippur fast with my sister’s family. I was the only one who fasted this year all the way through, and I have to say that it was a good and easy fast: no major hunger pains and no buzz headaches or anything like that.
And I ate and ate and ate some more, probably overdoing it a bit, but that is what I did.
Prior to the Yom Kippur holiday, on Saturday, it was the next permutation of this year’s Record Store Day, broken up into three separate days due to the pandemic.
I did not purchase very much—I am on a budget and honestly, there wasn’t very much that suited my fancy to begin with—but I went, I bought and I conquered.
What more can I say?
I also gave a donation to an animal cause supported by my local record store, so I feel good about my participation in this year’s RSD celebration.
And then later on Saturday, my son’s bowling league started.
This is an important milestone for the participants, including my son, who have not seen many of their fellow participants in about six months due to the pandemic.
It is time to try to start moving toward normalcy again, and for my son, this is one giant step forward.
He is on the same team as he always is, but what the league did is to limit the teams to three participants each, rather than four, to cut down on the contact between the players.
They also take temperatures of all the participants and the parents that are there, and we have to fill out a few forms attesting to the fact that everybody is OK and free of the coronavirus.
There are dividers between the lanes to further protect the players.
“Slapping five” is not allowed, but you can “elbow bump” if the occasion arises.
I had taken my son to practice bowl since the bowling alleys reopened in our area, so he had about five weeks of practice under his belt prior to this first day of the league, and I am happy to say that the practice time helped my son immensely.
He bowled as good as he has ever bowled on opening day, scoring 185 and 167 scores. Since he is generally a 123 to 125 bowler, this was absolutely amazing, and with everyone cheering him on, I knew he felt so good about finally doing something that he loves to do.
We dedicated his games to the memory of his grandfather, who I just know was looking down from heaven and smiling from ear to ear at his grandson’s accomplishments.
On late Sunday, as Yom Kippur was starting, the WWE had a pay per view event, “Clash of Champions,” that I watched with my son, and it managed to keep me up the entire three hours that it was on.
It actually was quite good this time around, so it kept both myself and my son going as a fun event, one that capped an interesting weekend and one that heralded the beckoning Jewish new year.
We are not a religious family, but we are Jews, and this new year affirms our faith in God and everything that happened to us during the past year and will happen to us in the coming year.
So far, so good.
Now, if we can find out the future for my son with his job, everything will pretty much be in place for a rebound year.
I can only hope, and pray, that we find out soon, and it is a positive.
If I had one wish for the year, my wish would be that we all get back to some normalcy, and that includes getting my son back to his job.
I don’t have that magic lamp to rub, and I don’t have Barbara Eden to grand me my wish.
But at least I can hope, and maybe dream a little … .
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