16-17 October 2009 The Sabbath

Today is “Get ready for Shabbos” day. The word Shabbos means sabbath. From just before sunset Friday until one hour after sundown on Saturday, the Sabbath takes everyday life and puts it on the shelf. It’s a time for revitalizing oneself, both spiritually and physically. No phones, no shopping, no television, no work, no worries as they say in England. For those who don’t “keep” the Sabbath, it seems like a lot of restrictions and limits. For those who do, they don’t know how the non-observant world manages without that one day of total rest.

We do my shopping. I’m having a delicious deli Shabbos - more chicken pate, some turkey breast. It turns out that there is a small shul only three houses down the block from where we are staying! What good fortune for a girl who’s booking a vacation over the Internet from 3,000 miles away! But what is it we say? There are no coincidences!

Glenn heads out to explore London by night, as opposed to London’s nightlife, in which he has no interest. He ends up at Trafalgar Square, where he takes videos of people hanging out. The interest or intrigue fails to ring a bell with me. But to each his own. . .

I light my candles and enjoy a quiet dinner alone. Really this is nothing new for me - I spend almost all my Friday nights and Saturdays alone. It seems to be my lot in life. It’s ironic that I designed this house remodel back in 2005 with the idea of one day having my children and their spouses and my grandchildren over for visits and meals and enjoying the noise and the laughing and joking, the Sabbath songs and joyfulness, and now I sit alone. But I am determined to make some really fine lemonade out of these lemons.

So Shabbos in London turns out to be really lovely. In the morning, Glenn is already out the door by 8:00 on his way to GMT - Grenwich Meridian Time, and the Royal Observatory (Yes, she even has her own telescope, for pete’s sake!). As soon as he reports in, I’ll give you an update. Me? I overslept, prayed in my room with a beautiul view overlooking the trees in the back yard, ate lunch, read the newspapers and napped the afternoon away. As I said, a really lovely day.