Non-Stop Squid!

*** First and foremost, I must brag. Go here (Yarn Harlot) and scroll almost to the bottom of the post (before the comments start). Yes, that is me and Squidette, front and center.***

I feel like I have been going non-stop for 2 or 3 weeks now. I am really looking forward to Sunday with no obligations and the ability to sleep in. Frankly my plans for Saturday are not particularly strenuous and include the ability, should I choose, to nap, but it is Rosh Hashanna and there are obligations of a religious variety. (So is Sunday but we are not as formal in our second day observances.)

Despite my non-stop running, we did get to see Itzak Pearlman with the New York Philharmonic on Tuesday. This was the first time that I have seen him live and it was amazing! Our next set of tickets is not for another month, something for which I am extremely grateful -- I need a week where I come directly home from work and have no evening obligations. There is one obligation next week at Squidette's school but Mike is going.

I hit Little's class for a book celebration this morning and Squidette's school for PTA this evening. Got to tell you, nothing more amusing then watching / listening to five fourth graders discuss a book. They were so serious! They used such sophisticated language! It was all I could do to keep from laughing with pride and amusement. There was one parent, however, who I wanted to shake. First, she brought her boys to school late. Then, as she dropped them off, she told them that she did not think she had time to come to the book talk this morning. The woman was dressed in jeans and did not look like she was heading to work. I am pretty sure that she does not work (I have encountered her at other school events). Ten minutes in to the book talk she came in to the class room and immediately lit in to her son about the quality of his answers. The two of them got in to an argument and all I could think was "why did she bother coming." She did not get the same sense of joy and amusement out of the event that I did. I feel sorry for her son (and her in a small way).

There is very little that I can share about work but today I found myself victim of my own overloaded brain. Every two weeks we have a meeting with the contractors doing the renovations on the school. Today I totally flaked and forgot about the meeting and instead spent a pleasant period observing some of my staff. When I returned I got the message that one of the contractors had been by and that he would be back later. Still thinking nothing of it, I spoke to my boss and found out about the missed meeting. Since I usually run these things she just chatted with the guys and sent them on their way. O.k ... I head out to get some lunch, schmooze with some kids and wander back to my office to find that my guy had come back and that I should head to the trailer behind the building. Out I went -- leaving my hot lunch on my desk -- and stepped in to a double-wide with a dozen burly guys. Sounds kinkier then it was. They forgave my absentmindedness and we had the meeting. Me and 12 men. Yeah. It's o.k, I held my own. After almost a year of these meetings we get along pretty well and I am often the only woman there but today was just one more amusing bit on top of another.

Friday night starts Rosh Hashanna and this year I think I have it right and am giving up on habits deeply ingrained in my by my mother-in-law. When I first started attending services with her, she would insist that we get on line at least 45 minutes before services were scheduled to begin. She wanted a good seat -- in the sanctuary -- so that she could see and our congregation is very large. After a few years I convinced her that she could see pretty well from the balcony so we did not have to get on line quite so early. This was in the years when we attended the Late service (the congregation is so large that it has to run back-to-back, duplicate, services.) Finally, we switched to the early service because of the kids and she and I discovered that, without waiting, we could pretty easily get one of the less desirable seats in the back of the sanctuary where she could still see. (At this point Mike had stopped coming with us so it was easier to get 2 seats together instead of 3.)(My attitude is that I am there to pray and I really do not care if I can see.) The seats we managed to procure for the last couple of years were convenient for my quickly ducking out at the last prayer to run upstairs to get the kids from their programs (the logistics of claiming the kids is a nightmare which I will not get in to). Last year I attended Rosh Hashana services by myself. I sat in "our" seats and was not a happy camper. Mike joined me for Yom Kippor but it still was not right. So, I am trying something new this year. I have friends who always sit in a location that is extremely undesirable by mom's standards. Since I no longer have her to sit with, I am joining them. I can pray, I can be next to people I know and I can split the child reclaiming duties since their son is upstairs with Little Squid. Most of all, even though prayer is a solitary activity, I will not be alone with my thoughts.

To those of you celebrating the High Holy days -- or just celebrating anything -- May this year be full of Peace and Joy. L'shana Tova.