As is customary at this time of the Jewish Calendar, on the precipice of the New Year, I have been conducting a “Cheshbon Hanefesh” – an “Accounting of the Soul”. And, as always, there has been so much to reflect on over the past year.
A few weeks ago, I turned 54. On the surface, there is nothing particularly special about this milestone except that it is “Triple Chai”. (For those who are not familiar with Jewish Culture, the 18 times tables are important because the number 18 is a numeric representation of the word “life” in Hebrew. It is traditional to donate money or give cash gifts in multiples of 18 for good luck). This reminds us to celebrate life, with all of its ups and downs. We are encouraged to embrace all of life, both the love and the loss, because we are grateful for being alive at all.
This basic philosophy seems even more poignant than ever for me. When I look around at what is happening in the world, it is a wonder that any of us can even get out of bed in the morning to face the day. Sometimes it feels so overwhelming. And yet, I do. Every morning, I choose to try and do the best I can with the things I can control in my life, and try to accept that there are many things I have absolutely no control over.
This is causing me to focus on things that bring me sparks of joy, no matter how small and insignificant they may seem.
Here are some sparks of joy from the past year:
We started off our year with a family trip to Japan. 8 of us spent almost two weeks together having incredible experiences. I won’t go into much detail here, as you can always look back in my blog if you are interested in what we did, but here are a few fun photos from our trip, there are too many!
Kassirer Boy update: Erez is finishing his last (6th) year of UBC in Materials engineering after completing his last 8 month coop placement. Zev and his fiancee, Mae are starting 4th year at Queens, He is in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty. Noam is in Second year at UBC in Kelowna doing civil engineering, and Teva is starting grade 11. All of them are huge sources of joy to me. We treasure any time we get to spend with them.
As usual, Our summer was filled with Ultimate Frisbee. We attended several tournaments to watch both Teva and Noam in Ontario. Unfortunately we didn’t get to watch Erez who was playing in BC. In August Teva competed in the Canadian National Junior Ultimate Championships in Edmonton. His team came in 10th place, 8 places above their seed and a great time was had by all. We also had a great time staying with the Conrad Family at their amazing guesthouse called Maggie’s Hill – We highly recommend it!
This summer I had the pleasure of helping Zev and Mae move into their new house in Kingston, I helped Noam move into his new apartment, and then we did the Ema cooking boot camp to fill his freezer. On the way home I took a quick side trip to hang out with Erez and we went on a beautiful hike. I also got to try a really cool restaurant called Maenam with Erez and Kerrie, and spend time a little bit of time with our cousins, Norman and Sandra Miller. Here are a few summer pics of the kids.
Aubrey is always a source of joy to me. He has continued to do what he loves at work, 2-3 days in the office, Family Medicine Obstetrics, teaching residents, being the curriculum lead for the Family Medicine residency program in Durham Region, palliative care, circumcisions, lumps and bumps clinic, urgent care, among other things. This year he was curling twice a week in the winter, and we have had lots of family time together this summer.
Fun Fact: After years of dreaming, I finally bought a used sailboat – a 1980s Bombardier 4.8 Dingy. Teva and I and Aubrey spent the spring fixing it up and finally got it out on the water. Unfortunately we seemed to have lost the mainsail after one time out. We may have left it on the side of the lake. As embarrassing as this is to admit, I thought that maybe someone on my list might have a lead on where we could pick up a used sail.
As for me, I continue to keep busy teaching Hebrew School, Bar/Bat Mitzvah lessons, and yoga. I have been officiating a variety of life cycle events in many different locales, and feel grateful for all the families I have had the privilege of working with this year. I find this work so rewarding, and even in the sad events, there are sparks of beauty and joy as well.
In other news, I am looking forward to going back to my African Drumming group, and now that Aubrey has turned 55, we joined the Bowmanville Older Adult Association (spouses are eligible even if they are not yet 55). He has no time to sign up for classes right now, but I have started Tai Chi and Intermediate Spanish classes.
I am wishing you all a sweet and happy and healthy new year to all of you and your loved ones, and may this year be better than the last!
Shana Tova Umetukah!