The room was comfortably full, not packed. The A/C offered a Brrr so any remnant of heat left over from Indian Summer was left outside our “four walls.”

Rabbi Lookstein walked up to the podium with his particular cadence we’ve come to know through the years. I was appropriately clad in the “right” length skirt. And so the stage was set, the evening began.

We were at KJ Synagogue to hear Dr. Rabbi Ari Berman, President of Yeshiva University speak. The write up about the evening caught our eye. He spoke on Sin, Self Perception and the Art of Living. 

The timing for us to hear this was propitious. Yes, G-d offers no coincidences. We walked away from the evening a little more fine tuned on some immediate issues that have been dealt to our extended family.

He touched on the distinction between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. He detailed the difference in prayer between looking at and embracing your sins, your misgivings and your wrongdoings. 

He was light on the emphasis of sins necessarily being terrible shandas worthy of punishments and more on ways we have wronged others. 

Then he moved on to the meaning of wearing white on Yom Kippur, praying for the forgiveness of behaviors that we feel we can better.

Straightforward, his words flowed with a pleasant melody and his sincerity offered comfort. We, as Jewish people are factually in the minority.

Our importance and roles in society however, quite the contrary. What was in the minority last night as well, were cells phones beeping, ringing or being accessed. We were there to listen, perhaps learn.We respected his spirituality and wisdom about keeping the peace pipe moving. L’dor V’dor.

We left the Rabbi’s sermon feeling comfortable, embraced and that our well being was cared about by a virtual stranger, an ordained man.

In the love your neighbor category and a look after your own way, we question why it is often easier to be more kind to strangers than intimates.

In a divine order play out, we are placed in positions in families and situations that because we are “just humans” will inevitably offer conflict and need for repair. So perhaps just for today, several weeks short of wearing a white outfit and sneakers why not look to our left, glance to our right and say we are sorry to someone we may have wronged. Maybe if we begin to own a piece of our behavior we can move on in a healthy way to the sounds of cell phones ringing and beeps of texts coming in. Amen!

One hundred memories of life in a box.
One hundred memories of life.
None were left on the cutting floor.
None were lived through a splice.
We are sorting through decades of life on the run, baby pics and sporting events.
We are heavily endowed with the emphasis on Fun and go on while we still -can run.
Papers of sadness, rekindled our grief, a moment to sit and reflect.
A box filled with toys unfolded the joy-blessed with 2 girls and six boys.
Our heap of relief.
Legos and baby dolls, more shoes than we need.
So we sort and we pack and we throw and we keep.
On from Plan A to Plan B and C.
Wait don’t toss that just yet.
We may need it some day to learn how to knit, or to sew or crochet.
Tomorrow may offer a second chance ok let’s keep it out of the way.
One hundred more memories of life in a box.
Can you believe we did oh! so much.
We are moving on to a chapter unknown.
New ventures and hobbies and such.
So we add some more “stuff,” to the bag of give aways.
We pray we won’t miss that old sweater.
We have a little room in the box that says “save.”
As we move on to new ventures in warm weather.
On our way we will go, yes we are ready and set.
We will count on the hope of new beginnings.
With our lives wrapped up tight.
0n our wings with our prayers.
As we sail into sunsets unknown.
Here’s to one hundred more boxes.
Of memories to make as we add a new Place to call Home.



On the days before the Jewish New Year your presence in our lives feels even more pronounced. We sit still for a moment and reasonably try to evaluate where we could try harder, embrace change and clean up shop.
We hold on to the lessons that have propelled us into a place with more acceptance and the understanding that our journey is just that. The people in our path who are deceptive are there to help us understand wrong from right. The benevolent, kind and selfless offer us lessons for good values. One of your long term themes is for patience. We go along at our own pace and hope that our recognition of who needs a leg up grows more keen with time. Our gut is really our mind speaking through our heart. You know when you know. Don’t underestimate a vibe, a sideways look on someones face. Some of the people, some of the time.

When we are pushed to the limit in our values you leave us with the decision to hold tight or compromise and restructure. When we slip up and waiver we look over our shoulder for the feathers, or dimes you drop along our path.
We feel less alone.
There are days we wonder when it’s our turn again for you to come back our way. It’s often during our toughest lessons.
And so we wake up early, make the coffee as we begin the “Days of Judgment.” We will wait for the feathers, leave our “judgments” in the recycle bins and know, as long as we work together our backs will be covered. Gmar Chatima Tova.

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The meant to be-of what came before.

Let’s double down for healing strong.

A better a place for which to belong.

Life becomes more difficult.

Everything lived with much more caution.

We are praying and hoping this year, Dear G-d, for please an easier portion.

We’ll aim to overcome our considerations.

We’ll vow to jump through hoops.

Send our blessings across the waters, to our devoted troops.

On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

We will sing and praise the Lord.

Paying attention in place of tired, listening instead of bored. 

Our prayers will recall memories of the frivolous days of our youth.

Let’s usher in the New Year and continue our path for truth.

arosebyanyothername2016.com/2023/06/25/a-house-that-is-a-home/

“My romance doesn’t need a castle rising in Spain.

Or a dance to a constantly surprising refrain.

And wide awake I can make my most fantastic dreams come true.

My romance, doesn’t need a thing but you.”

Written by Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers.

Father Time You Need a Haircut.

World Book Encyclopedia, The Merriam Webster Dictionary and The Thesaurus– versus Google, Kindle, Amazon Prime, Tik tok, Facebook,
Instagram, and a myriad of search engines plus. A.I. give it a try.

Our days of licking our finger to turn the pages are virtually over. Although we still pick a hard cover over a battery operated read. Can you easily bring to mind memories of brown paper bags with pencil calculated totals of grocery store purchases? How much were a dozen eggs? Anyone else struggle thru trigonometry? Specific functions of angles and their applications to calculations- no comprende.

How about looking up Ticonderoga and cutting out pictures from National Geographic Magazine for a cut and paste project on Africa? Oh, and who doesn’t remember carrying that elaborate science project to school hoping it wouldn’t spill or rip?

What happened to Ed Sullivan on Sunday night, Tom and Jerry and a deeper meaning to Bugs Bunny then we ever knew (google him) Saturday mornings. Yes to the the guilty pleasure of Luke and Laura’s General Hospital Wedding? Would you “Bet your Life” on Groucho, if he threw in the swinging Duck? How bout (pie in the face) Soupy  Sales?

Our days now where we are going at a slower pace with the absence of having to re-boot anything is high up on our “only if” list. We have finally come to learn when you call customer service you have to press #1 and scream loudly #9 times. Ugh!

When we step back and chronicle the speed at which life has reinvented communication it is mind boggling. Ironically we miss the days of waiting on line to buy tickets to a Grateful Dead Concert. We brought our lunch and a snack and sat through 3 hours and 42 minutes of loving Lawrence of Arabia.

The palpable, heart beating energy waiting to get good seats can’t be replaced by choose your seats on Ticketmaster on-line. We look back at memories of being careful not to touch chewed gum under our seats. We could come in the middle of a movie and watch it again for the same price of admission. A couple of cartoons thrown in. A box of bon-bons please.

Missing slower paced times. Some days we jam pack activities to avoid suffering from FOMO, ( fear of missing out.) Of What we ask. 

Euphoric recall sets in as we exhume the days of the smells of home cooked meals. Very well done baby lamb chops, baked potatoes, canned le sueur peas and fruit cocktail with Entenmann’s toasted pound cake. Yes, two n’s.

We miss getting hand written letters, and saving them in our memory box, scented envelopes and all. I repeat – “Can it be that it was all so simple then, or has time re-written every line?” Hit it
Barbra with an A.

So just for today, pay less attention to the frequency of sound with every e-mail or text coming in. Explore some hand written behaviors. “I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter. And make believe it came from you.” Fat Waller’s piano version is fun.

Perhaps on demand old episodes of Dr. Kildare or Ben Casey -our original Mc Dreamy’s. Have a nostalgic Saturday!

Dear Ordainer of Weddings and Funerals. Would we still have tried as hard? Perhaps overlooked more.

Please stand on that long line over there. That’s the one that says “Weddings and Funerals only.”

You don’t see it? It’s the longest line in the room. The shared celebrations and the pool your sorrows with tones of mandatory invites and holiday seats filled.

The terms Kismet, Destiny and Beshart suggests- the prophetic,
the meant to be’s.

How much does luck or chance factor into who we go the distance with? Does forever mean until the holiday meal is over, the card game is finished, or when someone moves off the block?

Early on we come to learn Holiday Anxiety can exist all year long .The uncomfortable dread of the “do we have to” kicks in.

As social media has connected us to our past, we have become voyeurs into the lives of the people we met through our “chance” encounters.

Reunions, cousin clubs and catch up events offer the second time around opportunities. If we try hard can we champion our first time around defeats and turn our once in awhiles, into the more oftens?

Our primordial worries of will we be liked, accepted, invited back have subsided with time. Some of the people…

So we learn back to the future isn’t always in the canasta cards. The surprise of the well blended double date shows up. We walk away, look at one another and think yes, a take two would be very nice, indeed.

We spoke with the pharmacist at CVS yesterday about waiting until October for our, as he referred to it “upper classmen” flu shot. What a gentle way of saying senior discounts accepted.

So as a member of that category we took our senior day discount on our over the counter Nexium and went home and took a nap.

My take away is, we can dwell on missed opportunities and bemoan our fate about who has stayed and who is gone, or we can accept that our time with them was inscribed as exactly what it was “meant to
be.” Make it a reach out to someone you love day. I just did.

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We woke up on the good side of Grateful. The years, like the bouncing dots of a text message being replied to are quickly flying by. 

Resplendent with wonderful and some not so wonderful remembrances that have marched along with us, like dutiful soldiers.

Luckily, we have built lovely little corners for them in the attic of our minds. We call upon them. Reliable, friendly and filled with warmth. Likened to a movie we’ve watched before.

We know what’s coming and still look forward to the race of our hearts 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 vivid pictures that we carry with us in our eyes only. Those moments in time that brought pink to our cheeks and offered a warm halo like glow. How bout those big smiles when the kids see you for the first time after camp ends. Yes, please.

And then, like the fleeting moment of the Robin Red Breast sitting upon your lawn who just stopped by to announce, Spring -it goes.

You start another project, read another book, or spend the day perfecting the new recipe you got for osso bucco. Lucky to have a new day to create a new moment. We Polaroid the feelings that having lunch with our childhood friend offers.

Perhaps document the look on a young childs face when they emerge from a cool swimming pool, wipe their eyes and plunge back under. Today we will steal a glimpse of another time of life as we skim through old photo albums and use the opportunity to create a place to call our own.

Make it a great Monday. Who knows perhaps secreted in this day you will recognize an opportunity that went unnoticed before.