It’s about starting over . com

What is the difference between just another news item and a tragedy? Possibly the distance from “home,” home being one’s personal life.

Too close to home

On Thursday, I heard an awful item on the news (I was listening to music on the radio, and just this once, I listened when the news came on): A man had shot and killed his wife and two children, then he shot and killed himself. Both the man and his wife were police officers, one child was three years old, the other, not even two months. What initially brought this close to home was the fact that it happened in their apartment, which is only a few minutes away from where I live. All of a sudden, it was a little more than just another tragic news item. I was shocked, but after a while, only astonishment remained. I thought, “What a horrible thing.”

Not too close to home

Late Friday, the information came through–the man who had done this is the son of someone I know. I had met him, his wife and his children at another tragic event just over a year ago, the shiva for his father, who had just committed suicide. All of a sudden, it wasn’t too close to home– Continue Reading »

To say  it’s different here (in Israel) is the understatement of the year! It’s a place of many enigmas, but what I have in mind right now is the winter.

People who live in Israel are fond of saying that both autumn and spring last anywhere from a few hours to a day or two. True, there isn’t much that’s transitional about life in Israel–it’s usually either all black or all white.

Winter though, this is really something. While the majority of the world–including people, plants and animals–is more or less taking cover, hibernating until spring dawns, winter in Israel is more of an awakening. It generally begins with Continue Reading »

Late November, early December of last year, I asked myself what the proper date was to hold a memorial ceremony for my husband Ray, who had died on December 3, 2005. Because we sometimes use the Hebrew date of an event, I was unsure whether to use that or the Gregorian date. The appropriate date sort of revealed itself to me without my consent or participation. It’s now November 15th (2007), and I’m finding myself in somewhat of a mire of down feelings. It feels very much like grief, but because December 3rd had felt like the right date last year, I wasn’t expecting these feelings for at least another week or two. Puzzled, I tried a few things that usually pick up my mood (special tea, a trip to a local organic farm, an interesting movie), but nothing seemed to work. Just like last year, it suddenly dawned on me that there is a reason for this oppressive feeling: Continue Reading »