We're going to Israel for two whole weeks to celebrate our oldest's bar mitzvah - and I am not sure I can even think of just one word to explain how excited we all are, and how much we have been looking forward to this.
My kids have never been to Israel before, so this is a huge deal for them - and Josh and I are so excited to get to see Israel again through their eyes. There is so much we want to show them and share with them, and we keep reminding ourselves that this trip is about the kids and not about us - and all the fun things we remember doing and see and eating. Oh, the eating. It's gonna be awesome.
But our main goal for this trip is that we very much want the kids to just fall in love with the land - and even though it's almost impossible to really explain to our kids, or any kids really, about why we do not live in Israel right now, about why we talk the talk but don't exactly walk the walk - especially because more often than not, we can't even explain it to ourselves, we are hoping and praying that this trip will leave the kids seeing Israel through the lens of a Jewish homeland, a place that belongs to them.
Now, having said all that, packing for two weeks, including everything we need for this bar mitzvah has been very overwhelming. The only bright spot is that I get to make multiple lists. I love a list.
Now that we are all packed and pretty much ready to roll, I realized that while we have fun new red (and one blue) luggage - or as Josh keeps calling them, our valise set - many others in the airport might also have fun red luggage. So I asked one kid to please put our last name's initial on each bag with some duct tape. I handed the kid a roll of tape and a scissor and went to wash the dishes because I have seen Fiddler on the Roof enough times to have internalized the importance of leaving a clean home before departing on a trip.
I came back to this:
It seems the kid had some trouble.
Is that a sideways E?
Some sort of S?
A script letter?
It's a W.
I know.
We might need some occupational therapy.
But not now. We have a trip to take right now.
My kids have never been on a plane for longer than two hours.
Wish us luck!
:)
jen