Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The last day of the tension-filled month off from school

I had a strong feeling today of "if not now, when?" So, I acted on spontaneity, which many of you know is not my usual "modus operendi". I finished my appointment this morning with the OT in Soroka (more on that here) and called Robert to suggest that we should go to the Safari in Ramat Gan (Tel Aviv) today. It was 11:00 am, and yet another day with the kids home from school because of the security situation with the war. The 'cease fire' has kept Be'er Sheva quiet for two days now (but not other southern cities, they are still fired upon regularly. It is clearly a one sided cease fire, but this blog isn't for politics), so I had a feeling school will open soon. On the way to Tel Aviv, we heard our mayor on the news announcing that schools in Be'er Sheva will reopen tomorrow. That was my premonition. I felt we need to use this day in a fun way, because we may not have another chance all together in the near future. My 20 year old cousin S.C. from Jerusalem was with us, so that was a treat. It was a great day- we really did see lions and tigers and bears, Oh my! And zebras, rhinos, and an enormous hippo the size of our van (!) crossed the path in front of us. The kids went crazy with excitement and a healthy dose of fear. An ostrich came up to the kids' window in the back and put his ridiculous looking face right against it. It was a real hoot. We got some *amazing* pictures. Monkeys freely playing with each other and their babies... we lingered at them for a long time, it was so amazing to see the socialization going on. Fascinating. It was a great day. When we got home Robert wanted to keep the special mood up so he made a bar-b-q with hot dogs. I made salad and cole slaw, and put out various left overs, and voila, dinner. :-) It made packing school bags for the first time in almost a month less of a chore.

And the doctor said Azriel is no longer sick (B"H), and not contagious already for a few days, so he'll go to gan tomorrow, scabby spots and all.

Whew.

But I am not being lulled into thinking that this quiet is anything remotely close to permanent. I told the kids today that there very well may be sirens and missiles soon, and that Hamas is waiting for us to be complacent in order to catch us again and scare us with unpredictability. They still have the rockets. I feel it's important to keep them alert and ready. I write this as a helicopter flies low over my house at this moment, in the direction of Soroka... bringing our wounded boys from Gaza. Hashem Yishmor (Gd watch over them).

4 comments :

  1. What a wonderful day!!

    I wish I was able to be so spontaneous!!

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  2. Forgot to mention that you will probably have relative quiet until after the elections here...

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  3. So glad to hear that you went to Dorit and that it helped you feel so much better. Love to hear about your spontaneous day also. Sounds just like what you all needed. I hope that school structure adds to your day. I know my kids get so squirrely without it too.

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  4. Just had to check back in today to see if the kids went back to school today. If they did you're hopefully relaxing and enjoying some peace and quiet.

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