Rant #3,209: Years May Come, Years May Go

Yesterday came up goose eggs for me in another day of cleaning out the house in preparation for its sale.

I threw out some more things yesterday morning, and then later in the day, I finally got into the attic to see what was up there.

It was a very difficult enterprise trying to get up there, but using a ladder and a lot of what I would call intestinal fortitude, I finally got the slat open and got up there—

To find nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing … there were no boxes up there as I had thought, but I did find insulation—wads and wads of it—and that was about it.

So I have absolutely no idea where my school yearbooks are, but at least I didn’t find anything negative up there.

Years ago, we had a squirrel or gopher or some living creature in there. My wife and I used to hear it scurrying across the basement every night, and we thought that one day, it would come down on us through the ceiling.

But that noise disappeared over time, and I do remember that when the insulation people were done with their job, they told us that there were absolutely no creatures up there, so whatever was there evidently extricated itself, and that was the end of that.

So the attic yielded nothing, nor did the remainder of my comic book collection.

The person who I called about the collection never called me back, so I have to think that what I told him over the phone about the collection didn’t thrill him very much.

So I still have the few hundred comic books remaining in my collection, and I still aim to sell them over the next few weeks and months.

So yesterday registered nothing but goose eggs for me, but maybe that was an omen.

The Jewish New Year is here, and Yom Kippur will be here on Sunday at sundown to culminate the High Holy Days observances.

Yom Kippur is the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar, and ushers in year 5784.

Here is what I wrote about the holiday, in edited form, in Rant #811, September 25, 2012:

"Yom Kippur begins Sunday evening at sundown.

For Jews around the world, this is the holiest time of the year, the time where we pause to reflect on what we did the past year and how we can begin anew in the new year.

Even many non-observant Jews follow this holiday, and this is the only time that many of them venture into a synagogue during the entire calendar year.

Prayer and reflection are paramount here, as is refraining from drinking or eating anything for the duration of the holiday.

Some Jews don't even bathe, watch television, drive cars or do anything but pray and fast during this period, which ends Monday night at sundown, or when the shofar is blown at Yom Kippur services.

I, personally, don't go to that extreme. I do not go to synagogue, and this year, while I will be fasting, I will do it entirely at home.

However, from my personal experience, fasting is not hard to do. Sure, it takes you out of your routine, but it really isn't that difficult to do for a day.

What is difficult is doing it while you are in synagogue. The constant getting up and sitting down--when the Torah is displayed--makes it very difficult.

I remember in the old days, you would hear women crying in the back of the synagogue. Not eating can do that to you.

As far as my family, my wife has tried and can't do it, my son the same, my daughter, I know she has tried but she can't do it, either.

I have to tell you, after I fast, I feel very, very good. It is almost as if everything bad in my body has been cleansed out of it by fasting. I might have a little buzz headache, but this is something I have been doing continually since I was 12 or 13, so I was pretty much used to it.

So to all my Jewish friends, and to all of those people I know who aren't, Happy New Year to everyone."

I came up with nothing yesterday, and I have a week of absolute torture coming up next week.

It all starts with my fast for Yom Kippur, which continues through Monday’s early evening. That will probably be the easiest thing I do all week.

Beginning on Tuesday and through Thursday, I have to cover the annual conference held by my workplace. It will be held in Virginia, and I will cover it virtually, but it is eight hours a day during the three days—and then I have to write up the day’s events, which pretty much entirely wipes out those days for me.

And conveniently on Monday, the house officially goes up for sale, and extra conveneniently, on Thursday, we have an open house—right as I am covering this convention.

Yom Kippur might be “The Day of Atonement,” but my suffering continues way beyond that solemn day, all next week.

I will be taking off from the Blog on Monday, so I will speak to you again on Thursday, no more assured of my family’s future than I have been for the past few weeks.

Have a great weekend, have an easy fast for all my Jewish friends, and please, whether Jewish or not, please keep my family in your prayers.

The New Year can signify a new start, a new set of challenges, a new aim or goal.

Quite frankly, my family and I need a lot of help right now.

“God, tell me what I can do to have this all work out, and I will do it, Please help my family and I out during this new year."