Path Taken

I close my eyes.
I stand at a crossroads, which road to choose?
So many to choose from, but where do they go?
To decide one path is to rid myself of any other choice.
But what if it's wrong? I can't go back.
I look down one path, I squint down another, trying to figure out which is best.
As I stand there undecided, one path disappears.
Wait! But...what if I had chosen that path?
It's too late. I can't take the time any longer.
I choose my path.
I open my eyes.

Another E-mail My mother sent me

ENOUGH:
Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged, and the mother said, 'I love you, and I pray you enough.’
The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I pray you enough, too, Mom.'
They kissed, and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'
Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'
'Well...I'm not as young as I once was, she lives so far away & has her own busy life. I have some challenges ahead, and the reality is - her next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said.
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I pray you enough.' May I ask what that means?'
She began to smile. 'That's a prayer that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I pray you enough,' we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.'
Then, turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.
I pray you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
I pray you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more
I pray you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
I pray you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I pray you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I pray you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I pray you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
Then, she began to cry, and walked away.
They say, it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but an entire life to forget them.
TAKE TIME TO LIVE......
To all my friends and loved ones,
I PRAY YOU ENOUGH....

She sat alone in the dark room, motionless, as the tears dripped down her cheeks and off her chin. She occasionally sniffled, staring off into the shadowed corners of the room. She wondered why she was crying, why she felt so miserable. She recalled that earlier that evening she had beeen her carefree, easy, cheerful self - in the space of a few short minutes, all of that changed. She now sat alone, as miserable as could be, wishing she had the courage to stand up and face what she had to. But she couldn't, she just stared into the dark with large tear-filled eyes, not yet willing to put aside her fear and tears. Finally, she uncurled from her position, and went in search of paper. After tearing out a sheet of paper from an old school notebook, she wrote down the events that had taken place a half hour ago. Perhaps that would ease her pain and she could get on without the burden - perhaps it would help her to understand why she cried. In the course of writing, her tears dried up and her nose unclogged. The mere act of getting the words down on paper had a soothing effect. No longer were they inside, unspoken. They were now on a page, visible to anyone who cared to look. Even if locked away, they were free. She looked up, wiped the last tears from her eyes, and decided to go out the door. She would not let anything hold her back any longer.

Mariner Goes Swimming

My mother and brother took Mariner to the dog beach today. He liked the beach and the dogs, but he was too scared to go in the water. So when they got home, they decided to take him into our pool. I just got home from biking when they decided to do this and I took some pictures. He wasn't too thrilled about being in the pool, but he looked VERY cute.

Driving, Directions and Getting Lost

Typically, when I'm driving I have a fairly good sense of direction, especially if I've gone to my destination at least once before. If I've gone once, I can find my way back ther with a minimum amount of mishap. If I've never been there before, I rely on Mapquest or my brother. (We had a GPS, it broke, haven't gotten around to replacing it yet.) In any case, it's all fine when I'm the one drving. However, stick me in the passenger seat, and then ask me for directions, even to a place I know WELL, and I will manage to get us lost. CJ has finally learned this after many many repeats. She's learned to question whether I'm absolutely certain...I'll say yes, and then around 3 seconds later I say "oh....wait...oops" That is generally the point where she threatens to kill me for getting us lost...AGAIN. Last year in Myrtle Beach, I got her a magnet that said "We've been through so much...and most of it was your fault." However, as she said, most of it was actually MY fault. So, never listen to me when I'm giving directions from the passenger seat, even if I insist I'm right. I WILL get us lost.

Biking!

So even though I only learned how to ride a bike last night, I went to the park with CJ and SSC and went bike riding for 2 1/2 miles. I KNOW I'm going to regret it a LOT tomorrow, but I totally think it was worth it. Fell off the bike once, because I can't really do turns so well. CJ tried to go down one of the nature trails with the bikes. But I told her a few feet in, that this was like putting a rookie through mountain bike terrain. So we left, but not before SSC got all bitten up by mesquitoes because she forgot to spray her legs with the OFF. I love riding the bike, but I was SO hot by the time we were done. 90 degrees with about 95% humidity = HOT.
Can't wait till the next time I ride though. Now I just need to get a bike, though that's not happening till I get back from Hilton Head.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I LEARNED HOW TO RIDE A BIKE!!!!!!!!!!!!
For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you probably remember that one of the things that I've mentioned is that I couldn't ride a bike. Well, last night I went to meet a friend who had come to Florida for a few days. SG was one of my roomates in seminary, and she's the only one i hadn't seen since seminary (about 4 yrs ago) So we went to dinner with her grandparents, who paid for the meal (we had steak - which made me very happy) and afterwards I drove with SG and her grandmother back to the house that her grandparents own - they're one of the winter snowbirds - only down this summer to ship some of their stuff to Isreal. But anyways, SG said why don't we ride the bikes around. I said I couldn't ride a bike, so she decided that she'd teach me. At first she tried holding onto the bike (like you would for a little kid) but then she gave up. After all, I'm a big girl, it was a big bike...I fell off a few times, but within half an hour I learned how to ride a bike!!!! I'm SO happy about that. On the other hand, today I am SO sore, but it was totally worth it.

Mitten-Kitten in the Sink

Pet's Nicknames

Mariner: Mah, Mah-ri-ner, Ner-Ner, Marinara Sauce, Mari

Boots: Boot-boot

Mittens: Mitten-Kitten, pussycat, Mrrrr kitty

Diamond: Little Bird

Suki: Sukster, calico tiger

My First Day of Class

Never finished this, but it was started the first day of class. Hope you enjoy anyways. Oh, and there are pictures!

I walked to the building and looked up. *sigh* Yes, this WAS the right building, unfortunately. Somewhat daunted, I pushed open the door and entered the building. OK, my classroom was 209 so that meant…I had to go to the second floor. Where were the stairs? Turning to my right, I saw the men’s room, and across from that, the well-worn grey stairs. I trudged up, taking my time. After all, class wouldn’t start for another fifteen minutes. I got to the top of the stairs and saw a glass door in front of me, over the door, there was an emblem that said “South Florida Juvenile Correction Center”. Huh? Am I in the right place? I mentally shrugged there was no other building with a big number 10 on it, so maybe this was left over from when this building was used for something else. I pushed open the door, and entered a small hallway. To the right was a door with 218 over it. Ok…looking for 209…hmmm. Oh, there it is! The door to the room stood wide open. I looked inside and bit back a groan. Something told me this class was not going to be what I had expected. The room looked like an aerobics room, complete with mirrors, stepping stones and a laminate floor. The desks and whiteboard currently taking up most of the space looked completely out of place. Walking to the front of the class, I chose one of the desks near the teacher’s desk. I always sit near the front. It used to be because I had a hardtime seeing the board, but I no longer had that problem. Now I sat in the front so the teacher would know who I am, and would be more likely to be lenient with me. I was also more likely to actually pay attention when sitting at the front of the class, if only because I knew it would be obvious to the teacher when I wasn’t. I sat down and took my iPod out of my purse, but didn’t even get a chance to turn it on before the teacher and the first of the students came into the classroom. The teacher was chatting away with the student, who clearly must have been in one of her classes before. I listened with half an ear to the conversation while I took stock. The teacher looked nice, a mother-ish black woman probably in her early to mid 40’s (though I am notoriously bad at guessing ages so I could be WAY off the mark). Despite that, she looked fit, which made sense for a teacher of a wellness class. I decided I could like this teacher, and she would probably be receptive to the fact that I’d be missing the last day of class. Slowly, more people trickled into the classroom and took seats.

An E-mail that my mom sent me

Enjoy.
Haven't verified if this is true.
And I don't care.
Pictures are cute anyway.
WATCH THAT DOGGY DOOR
Could you imagine coming home from work to find this tiny creature napping on your couch with your dog? Guess who came home for dinner?
It followed this beagle home, right through the doggy door. This happened in Maryland recently. The owner came home to find the visitor had made himself right at home. This hit the 6 o'clock news big time.

Isn't this adorable?

Treasure Hunter

She ducked and rolled, keeping her mouth shut and inhaling through her nose, trying not to inhale too much smoke. She slunk along behind the burning crates, staying close enough to the flames that her own body heat wouldn’t show up on radar, but far enough away that she wouldn’t be roasted. Her eyes were locked on the goal just 15 feet in front of her, only a short sprint away in normal circumstances. However between she and her goal was not only a blazing inferno, but a yawning pit, filled with spikes.
Who still uses pits filled with spikes? She thought, starting to panic. Then she mentally kicked herself. Get a GRIP, Rhea, you can DO this. Just focus on what’s right in front of you. Examine the situation calmly and without panicking. She glared at the deep pit, calculating it to be about 15 feet deep and 30 feet across, no way she could get across without some kind of tool. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed a long piece of wood that was only mildly singed, but still serviceable and sturdy. She lifted up one end, grunting with effort, it was heavier than it had first appeared, which was all to the good as far as she was concerned, that meant it was more likely to hold her weight. Once Rhea got her board to the edge of the pit however, she realized she had a problem. The board fell short of the end by ten feet.
She groaned quietly. Why was nothing ever easy? Just once it would be nice if everything fell into place. She shrugged off her brief bout of self pity and got back to the situation at hand. Okay, so the board was too short, was there anything else around, and don’t just look at the ground but look…up. She craned her neck, and looked above her. There, in the rafters was a rope swinging, if she could only get to it. But once she got it, would it be able to support her weight? Were the rafters so weakened by the fire that she’d go tumbling to her death? It didn’t matter, she had to take the chance, there was no choice, and no other way out. Once she got past the pit and grabbed what she had come for, she’d be out that final door and on her way to freedom. Or if not freedom, at least on her way to getting paid, which was close enough.
She clambered onto a nearby crate and grabbed the rope as it swung past her. She tugged a little, making sure it was actually attached at the top, and not just hanging over a rafter. Having assured herself that she would not immediately plunge to her death, she took a firm hold of the rope, took a deep breath, and leapt from the crate. The hot air choked in her throat, and blurred her eyes, making it all that much harder. On the first swing, she saw that she wasn’t going to quite make it across, but if she made herself a human pendulum…maybe she could gain enough momentum and then jump for it. As she swung, the thought crossed her mind that she had watched Indiana Jones WAY too much as a child. One swing, two swings, three swings…at the top of the arc she jumped, launching herself away from the rope. For a brief second, she had the glorious feeling of flight, and then she landed, rolling in the ash on the other side of the pit. Coughing and retching, she stood up. Not even bothering to brush off all the ash that had accumulated on her hair and clothes, she took off running. The time was over for stealth, it was now time to grab the artifact and run like hell. Good thing she had lots of practice with that.
There, just in her reach, was the object she had come for. It was a peculiar looking thing, but she didn’t have the time to stop and look it over. She could do that once she was out of the burning warehouse, which even now was beginning to creak, the fire taking its toll on the already ancient building. She reached out and grabbed it from its alcove inside I small box. When her hand touched it, she felt a small jolt, like electricity. She tucked it in to her jacket, so there would be less likely to be damage to it. The less damaged it was, the more money she’d get.
Turning, she saw the open door and ran for it, once she got outside, she dropped and rolled, just in case any of the snipers had escaped the inferno. After looking around and seeing that no one was shooting at her, she ran for the pier, and jumped into one of the boats waiting tied to the dock. Feverishly, she untied it, and pulled the boat away from the dock. Then she headed out to the ocean, for the planned rendezvous with her employer. Right on time.

I went a little camera happy...

Dragon on the back of the car!!!!!

Boots wonders why I bother her the only time the dog is NOT bothering her.

Suki decided my suitcase was a good place to sleep.

Mariner just wants to be played with.

Little Bird didn't like me so close to his cage.

And Mittens of course, thinks I'm crazy.

My Trip to NY and Other things

I had a great time in NY, went to my friend's wedding, met Child Ish and Moshe, visited my aunt in the Upper West Side, and enjoyed myself overall. I stayed by my friend M.A., who was my roomie in sem, and stayed over at my house two years ago for a week. M.A. came with me over to Moshe's for Friday night dinner, and got a kick out of it, though I think she was a bit horrified over the fish. Good food, good company, good conversation, and didn't get home till about 1:30 in the morning. Actually, were it not for her insistence that her mother would be worried, we might have stayed even longer, but as it was, we were exhausted too, and walking back took WAY too long. Left NY early this morning, but for those bloggers upset that they missed me, don't worry, planning on coming back to NY in December, for a bit longer stay than just a long weekend.

And the other stuff? Pictures of Mariner of course! He graduated from puppy obedience training and they had a little graduation party. Including graduation caps...the owners were thrilled about this, the dogs less so.

Going to NY

Tomorrow I'm going to Brooklyn, NY for a friend from seminary's wedding. Staying there only till Sunday though, because I'm starting classes (again) on Monday. I just finished my semester today, and this is my "break", not very long, is it? On the other hand, only taking one class twice a week next semester, so it shouldn't be too bad.
Whenever I get into a discussion with a NYer about living in NY, I tell them I like visiting, but I wouldn't want to live there. For some reason, every NYer I have told this to, then decides to take it upon themselves to convince me how great NY is, and why I should live there instead of South Florida. I've heard it all, and I'm still not convinced. Then again, maybe I'm just biased. Both of my parents were born in NY and grew up there, and both of them hated it (which is why they moved down here obviously) so it's quite possible that I'm just brainwashed. But that doesn't mean I'm changing my mind, I love FL!

Good Joke

The sign reads:
WE WOULD RATHER DO BUSINESS
WITH 1000 ARAB TERRORISTS
THAN WITH A SINGLE JEW.

This sign was prominently displayed in the window of a businessin Philadelphia. Most would be outraged at the thought of such aninflammatory statement...
One would think that anti-hate groups from all across the countrywould be marching on this business and that the National Guardmight have to be called to keep the angry crowds back...
But, perhaps in these stressful times one might be tempted to letthe proprietors simply make their statement. We are a society whohold Freedom of Speech as perhaps our greatest liberty and afterall it is just a sign...
You may be asking what business would dare post such a sign?
.........Goldberg's Funeral Home!

This is interesting...

No Pain, No Gain

It's a common saying, for good reason. Anything worth getting, is worth working hard for. That which does not break us, makes us stronger. Pain builds character. While I may have my doubts about that last one (if only because I read it far too often in Calvin and Hobbes,) it's all true. However, we humans are creatures who enjoy our comfort, and pain is looked at with horror and fear. However, what in this life is not painful? And the pain DOES contribute to our growth, whether it be physical pain, emotional pain, or spiritual pain. We shudder, but we get through it, and hopefully come out better for what we have gone through.

Yet Another Odd Dream

Lately I hadn't been remembering my dreams as much, but this past shabbos, I had one that acutally stuck with me when I awoke. What exactly prompted this dream I have not the faintest idea, but it's a dream I kinda liked because it involved beating bad guys, and we all know how much I love to do that. Anyways, here's the dream.

I'm standing in the middle of an airforce base next to an airplane hangar, and a large guy stumbles out, holding onto something, he gives me this kind of bleary grin, like he's wondering what I'm doing there. I tell him that I'm an emotions wizard, and I get my power from people's emotions. (for some reason I feel the need to explain this to every person I stand near in my dream.) He shrugs, and asks me if I want some weed, I tell him no, he gets high and very happy and I get the power from his emotions. Apparently, I figure out after meeting a few people, it doesn't matter what KIND of emotions, I get power from any equally. Anyways, I transport myself to this little bazaar, with camels, and a guy who wants my power (of course). And apparently camels have emotions too, so I was able to get power from them. Suddenly there was a horde of zombies coming to attack, and I found out zombies have emotions too, which gave me the power I needed to destroy them.

I seriously wish I could interpret my dreams sometimes.

Mango Tree