Today I celebrated my 80th birthday. This isn't my actual birthday, but it's the day I celebrated it.
I wanted to share 80 years with my Chabad friends, and my relatives. So I ordered a bunch of food from the kosher butcher shop and deli. Found out that the Rabbi had ordered some more stuff because were having visitors.
The visitors? A bunch, probably a couple dozen, young rabbis from the Yeshivah in Crown Heights (Brooklyn, NY). Now if you want a whingding of a party, invite a bunch of young Lubavitcher rabbis.
But on to my personal guests. Long-time friends who aren't members of my congregation: Maxine, Helen&Albert, Marylinne, Rita&Irv; Albert being the only non-Jew. A former neighbor and her young daughter drove over from Ft Bragg, and Calichef (see her Diary) drove down from Tiny Town with her son. My son and his wife came from Orange County (Southern California). My neighbors in the apartment across the way were late. He came with their two sons, she came after work, but the party was winding down, so she came here to my place Where friends and relatives had already congregated. Two very special people couldn't come (from Texas and Illinois) for very valid reasons. I missed them.
Some special friends, members of the congregation, came over after the party at the shul, and we continued here. One whom I had especially invited didn't show up. I'll have to shake my finger at her.
A story of God's miracles: One of the cars carrying several of the young rabbis was almost in a collision with another car on a sharp winding mountain road. It was not possible to see traffic coming from the other direction, and when the driver saw the car blocking the road, and he realized he couldn't stop in time, managed to swerve, came within mere inches of going over the side, and avoided a horrible, tragic accident. No one was injured, but shaken up? You bet! At one part of the service each young man in the car came up to the bima and said a prayer of thanksgiving for having been protected from danger.
Megan managed to get the day off, after all, and she showed up for the shul service. Rowena, of course stayed outside with the kids. Gryffan (grandson; I have written about him, haven't I?) had to work, so he and Tracy (his girlfriend) showed up later at my house.
Of course the shul was crowded with the visitors and the regular members. I forgot to mention the counselors (12?) for the summer camp. It was a joyous occasion.
It was a hot day, but it was pleasant in the yard under the huge trees. There's almost always a breeze in this area, so on the hottest days, if you can get under a tree, it really does seem cooler. Not cool. Cooler.
I was going to save a piece of the birthday cake for a friend who couldn't be there, but it was gone before I could even collect a crumb.
Of course, I had to give a speech, since the kiddush was in honor of my 80th birthday. It was brief, but I had to mention that I've had ups and downs just like everyone else, but on the whole my life has been good. I told the young rabbis that their presence made it an even better party. Then Andrew had to say a few words about Mom. Then Megan had to put in a few words. Of course. My kids have never been shy. (Now how did that happen?)
I have a long, narrow living room without a lot of seating. A sofa and two recliners. Well, I ended up dragging chairs from other parts of the apartment, so that people could sit. People came and stayed awhile, others came and stayed long enough to be introduced all around have some iced tea or lemonade, and then left. But my living room was crowded to the hilt! At one point everyone was talking (yelling?) all at once, and all of a sudden--silence. Dead silence. Ever been in a room where that happened? My ears were ringing.
The daughter of the friend from the Coast and Rowena were good buddies when they lived next door, and both are water rats. The first thing they wanted to do was get in the pool. So Mom, daughter and Rowena left early, were in the pool before the rest of us got back here. The girls got out for awhile, and then back in. I swear, Rowena would swim in a snowstorm.
Helen gave me a bamboo plant. I don't know how big it will grow, but I'll have to find a place where Banshee can't get at it. He's already tried a couple nibbles. Maxine gave me a book: Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul. One article is by a local rabbi about the firebombing of three synagogues here in Sacramento. I haven't had a chance to read the whole article, but it's bookmarked for when I get done here. Megan gave me a book on loan, Words of Wisdom from Mahatma Ghandi. Signed by the author Shall Sinha, Ph.D. Well, I guess I know what my reading will be for the next several days. Maybe I should say digested, as these are not books to be read in an evening and put aside.
You know, it was a pretty wonderful day. I had precious friends and relatives around me, on a beautiful Sabbath day, and nary a discouraging word.
I'm not going into detail about the prior two days, but just say that I did a lot of running around in triple digit heat. I'm tired. I'm soon off to bed. Have to get up early, because Andrew and wife are going back to SoCal in the morning, so we're having an early breakfast together. Andrew has to be back at work at 7 AM! Monday, so they need to get home so he can be rested for his 12-hour shift in the ER. Ah, I miss them so much.
I don't think I'm going to do this again. If I make it to 90, maybe. But somebody else is going to do the running around!
Shalom