Lighting the Menorah in Texas

This is the first year that I have attended our township’s lighting of the Menorah to celebrate Chanukah. My heart was touched by the humanity of the celebration. Every ethnicity was represented, Jewish and not. We have a large population of Latin Americans so many of the Jewish people were from that continent. The Rabbi spoke beautifully with warmth and enthusiasm. As he started to light the Menorah, he asked us to think of someone close to us who needed healing. So many of us do this year. Below, the Rabbi is singing the blessings between lighting each candle, culminating in the 8th one to represent the 8 days of Chanukah.

As you can hear, it was a vibrant crowd with children running around with dreidels and shields. Some attendees were Orthodox Jews but others were Reform. There was even a lapsed Catholic with tears in her eyes remembering the community feel of her old church. The band was Hasidic and amazingly good. I will post videos in future posts but in this last video below they are singing about Chanukah.

HAPPY CHANUKAH!!

Advertisement

Happy Birthday Teddy!

He had a six pack…

My lovely husband is 59 39 today…  The handsome blondish guy above is a photo of him in Norway when he was really younger than 39.  What a looker!  He deserves to be spoiled on his birthday for so many reasons but #1 is that he loved his nutty mother in law.  We came as a package, as I was her long distance caretaker.  Her mental illness made her behave very strangely at times.  She would beg us to visit but then be overwhelmed by day 2 or 3.  To illustrate this she would take all the sofa cushions off, leaving us to sit on the hard base.  It drove my aunt and me to distraction but Teddy just put them back on the sofa and pretended nothing had happened.  When she was well, she was absolutely hilarious, full of fun and laughing at both ends.  I have inherited that charming and yet unique trait, along with her looks, her mental illness and a good sense of humor (just as well, really…)

I love Teddy for the following reasons –

• He loves me (Bunny) despite the mental illness, dodgy hoo-ha and lack of estrogen
• He makes me laugh; really laugh. We were a great double act at the bank last weekend.  Teddy has a stronger Scottish accent than me and the teller was having some difficulty with the glass and his lack of enunciation so I kept translating.  I told the bank teller that I was a translator for the mentally disabled.  She fell about laughing.
• He goes to work to provide for me (mostly healthcare but I like to eat sometimes) and he always has. At least I am a skinflint…
• He smells amazing. Teddy has a penchant for expensive scent and our current favorite is Luna Rossa.  His natural body smell is lovely too and the late Mrs. Stripe used to suck his used underwear (like a Tom Jones fan).  I don’t go quite that far but I do like a whiff of male sweat.
• There is always some lady with a crush on him but he seems to prefer blonde with a touch of crazy.
• He loves cats (perhaps that should have been #1). Our feral cat, Katniss, has decided that she will wait for ‘Dad’ to come home to feed her.  Ungrateful little slut!
• He cries when he watches soppy movies like Despicable Me and insists that we buy the first soft toy that we handled in case it feels neglected (WTF?). He bought my mum teddies from all over the world including the cutest little Harrods teddy with an Aran sweater.  I still have the damn things in the attic because she made me swear never to get rid of them.  In case you are reading this, Mum, they are all happy together with enough room to breathe…
• When he is drunk, he writes me beautiful little love notes that I keep in my lingerie drawer. The term ‘lingerie’ is pushing it.
• He loves me despite my unsexy, holey knickers…
• He thinks I have a great figure but his eyesight isn’t so good.

A tip for older single ladies – date the silver foxes.  They will see you through an elderly, rose tinted mist.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TEDDY!

Teddy and Bunny in Fredericksburg a few years ago