A Chilly Grey Day
It is a chilly grey day more like a day in the middle of autumn rather than the beginning of it. The leaves haven’t even changed colours! It is threatening to rain, somewhat like the feeling of wanting to cry but somehow being unable to do so. The weather cannot make up its mind. Shall it rain, shall it not?
Tomorrow is the eve of Yom Kippur. I am in a fluster doing all the things I have to do before then. My menu is planned in my head. There are only three of us this year, just Kelly, Teal, and me. I am making my mother’s chicken soup, the one that my mother and I both made each year since I could remember. It has become a tradition. This year Teal has decided he will not eat chicken ever since he watched a program showing how cruelly they are raised. Once I finish using up the chicken in the freezer, I will begin buying free-range chicken. That way, he will feel better about eating chicken. I am also making a mutton stew with green beans served with white basmati rice and salad. For dessert, we are having deseeded pomegranates, my whole apple jam flavored with cardamom and rosewater. Each year I make about twenty jars of it and give them to friends and neighbors. However, my energy is not the same as it used to be. I did not make any this year. I have one jar left, which we will open on Rosh Hashanah. It will be eaten with a round challah filled with plump juicy raisins. Yesterday Teal discovered a box of jello powder in the cabinet when he came to pick Pussycat up. He decided to make that for dessert as well. I think that will suffice.
The house is peacefully silent except for the classical music on the radio. Now that I have rested a bit, I think it is time for me to put my laundry in the dryer and go about my morning. Despite it being just the three of us, I feel a certain thrill that I feel each time the High Holy Days come around. I imagine the end of the Yom Kippur services when the shofar calls us. The sound of the ram’s horn enters my soul and gives me a sense of peace. The utter silence of the congregants, as they allow that wonderful feeling to go through their being is indescribable. We feel cleansed. We have atoned for our sins. We try to be better.
From my family to yours, peace, health, love, and understanding. Shana Tova. May your prayers be heard in heaven. Amen.