We woke up had oatmeal and wrote 74 on our application for a new Doc for a new part of our body that is making itself known.

The years, like the bouncing dots of a text message being replied to have flown by. Resplendent with a potpourri of memories that have marched along with us like dutiful soldiers. Grateful to have built lovely little corners for them in the attic of our minds.

They are always there to call upon (especially when the path you are walking on is temporarily unpaved.)

Haven’t you read a book twice? You know what’s coming and still look forward to the race of your heart and the a-ha moments. The cost of admission-down memory lane every penny (heads up) that we’ve saved to gain entrance, worth it. Through very little provocation we tap into them. We share our euphoric recall thru posted pictures that we carry with us in our eyes only. Those moments in time that brought pink to our cheeks and offered an everlasting glow. Her look, his smile when you gave them a collage that documents their happy moments. Doesn’t get better, in-spite of all the the crazy glue stuck to your fingers times.

Then like the fleeting visit of the Robin Red Breast sitting upon your lawn who just stopped by to announce Spring-they go. You start another project, read another book, or exhume memories spending time throwing out old sweaters and picture frames.

Lucky to have a new day to create a new moment. We Polaroid the feelings that having lunch with childhood friends offers and document the look on a young child’s face when they jump into a cool swimming pool on a hot summer day. Just for today turn the other way, minimize disappointments and maximize your good fortune.

Make it a great Friday and who knows perhaps along the way add a new memory that will last a lifetime.

14 years ago today. The moon is twice as lonely, the stars are twice as bright. You were there for my first breath. I was there for your last.

“Yitgadal v’yitkadash Shmei rabbah”
Daddy

The Passover Seder explicitly commands inclusion with the opening declaration, “Let all who are hungry come and eat”. Ensuring no one is left out involves inviting neighbors, singles, or strangers to the table, honoring the journey from slavery to freedom by practicing radical hospitality and ensuring everyone has a place.

Dear Rabbi Kraus,

At one point during your sermon, I looked up from the siddur to the sounds of children entering the sanctuary. Ah! that familiar sound exhumes an immediate sense of playful wonder. Well Dear Rabbi, one of my take aways from the prayer service yesterday as you referred to it in several different ways, was why were the Pesadich dishes and pots being returned to their less than perfect corrugated boxes in an over and out manner? Goodnight Moon, Good-bye Gefilte Fish, for now. Was it that the packing up of green glass plates and silverware (that had a fork tooth bent) was taking away the celebration of our remembrance of the liberation from slavery and the “passing over” of the forces of destruction? Or was it more traditionally symbolic of putting aside for now a communal, elongated shabbat dinner with the mellifluous sounds of hungry children? Ma nishtanah halailah hazeh mikol haleilot? Hench, my inner child connection, during your prayer service that connected me to Passover. 

Thank you for introducing me to your wife Rachel. Albeit a quick hello with a suggested promise of more to come, her warmth is saturating. She told me she was very glad that I came and I answered I was glad I “showed up.” More often than not that is all it takes. 

It was telling for me to make her acquaintance after listening to your strong sermon for several hours. I don’t know if you’ve seen the movie -The Way We Were- starring Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford. There is a well known line toward the end where they meet up many years later, after having shared a tumultuous and deeply loving relationship (not Beshart.) They both are with other people and Robert Redford introduces her to his wife. She says to him as they stroll for a moment together- “your girl is lovely Hubbell.” 

Rabbi, your wife is lovely. The sounds of your children connected me to my Passover relics of elongated sedars, chocolate covered matzoh and it feels like yesterday that I found the Afikomen.

Life on life’s terms. One step forward two steps back. Limbo and I quote Merriam Webster – an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition.

Somedays the uncertainty of the somewhere in-between takes our breath away. 

We are racing against time with rapid fire speed. The aging process often feels lopsided. It’s when we feel frayed around the edges that we re-group.

Our activities on the daily were often done in knee jerk fashion. Now our knee just jerks and our daily’s offer more of a challenge.

Day dreaming is a wonderful panacea. 

The year is 1963. We are starting camp the next day. We lay out our new keds sneakers, chose a pair of “pedal pushers” a sweat shirt and one of the many tee shirts we bought at Alexanders. We will grab a tennis sweater as we run out the door to catch the bus in the morning.

Ah, we remember it well. Not unlike the first day of school, camp offered unparalleled excitement coupled with the trepidation of will I meet new friends feelings. 

With our camp bag complete we get ready for bed. We finish reading one of our favorite Nancy Drew books, The Secret of the Old Clock, turn off our record player that was spinning a 78 Johnny Mathis album and ”Get Misty” as we shut the lights. Euphoric recall is medicinal and certainly helps minimize the startling tone of the in our face senior moments, that turn into where did the years go?

This is a defining moment for cleaning out our figurative closet. What shall stay and who shall go? My take away is that there is a religious and spiritual component where forgiveness and celebration hold court. 

As we are on the precipice of unknowing chapters coming our way fast and furiously -let’s fill the empty space that we made room for in our closets for those rainy days with promises of a “new.”

We will try not to stumble over the count our Blessings adages we clicked so many glasses to, as we tap into the “Accentuate the Positives.”

Oh, hey Lionel Ritchie this time we are going to “Make the Magic last for more than just night.” Shabbat Shalom.