what day is it?

I couldn't remember what day of the week it was -- it feels like shabbat (Saturday) again, with the sleeping-in and the kid at the tv or the computer, anything but read a book. Ok, now I've stolen the computer for another half-hour while she reads to earn some computer time! We have to get the other one online already!

Soon we'll have our shipment with another computer, but right now it's stuck at the port. I've had word that our ship did indeed come in, but that it was anchored offshore waiting in queue to be unloaded. There are still several days of delay due to the backups caused by recent strikes. While in that status at least it's not costing us anything extra; however, if they do unload it, the container will sit there at the port being charged daily for not being dealt with by customs officials who are on holiday this week! That's correct: the workers who unload DO work during this Succot holiday, but the customs people don't. And, somehow, that's OUR problem. So, I'm estimating another two weeks or so till we see our stuff. What's really being missed right now, even more than the computer: my echinacea formula which would have killed the virus giving me a throat thing I've been dealing with for about 5 days now (when my little bottle of drops finally went dry), not to mention my daughter's cold which has now evolved into a sporadic wet cough. And the other thing I packed in the shipment by mistake was the software to download pictures from out digital cameras -- I remembered the required cables, but forgot the drivers were only installed in the computer being shipped. Duh.

Last night we went to the in-laws for dinner, and I was surprised to find that they'd also invited my mother-in-law's sister & husband. It was the first time for this particular configuration. I also noticed my mother-in-law had a yahrzeit candle burning (in commemoration of the anniversary of someone's death, it's a small candle in a small metal open can) and I asked her who it was for. It was for her brother, and yesterday, erev-Succot, was the 40th anniversary of his death. He died tragically of dehydration on an army hike when he was just 19 [or so, it was regular army]. Sadly, 40 years ago, the importance of water consumption was not understood, and I guess it was a macho issue that not enough water was provided. This was and continues to be devastating for my mother-in-law, who helped raise her brother after her mother's death, and was 7 months pregnant with my husband at the time her brother died. My husband was named after him.

And more death last night: As we arrived for the holiday dinner, the tv was broadcasting the breaking news of a makeshift rocket attack on the town of Sderot, near Gaza. Two small children were killed, and about 30 injured on the holiday-eve. We hear this, and hear it, and watch it, and are bombarded with the death and the blood, and what do we do? We really don't know what to do. There is so little belief left that it could possibly stop in our lifetime. We mute the tv and go on with our dinner.

We're not doing anything today, as it's murderously hot and humid outside, but my daughter went out to enjoy her bike for a short time. Yesterday we got her too-small bike "enlarged" by raising the seat and handlebars, but it's still pretty small for a 12-yr-old. It's been so long since she rode it (almost 2-1/2 yrs) that the inner tubes had also dried out and punctured and needed replacing. But she's now old enough to go out by herself a little, where there's no traffic, and yesterday she had some fun sharing her bike with a new class-friend. She's kind of a shy kid at school, and has found two recent South-American immigrants to be her best friends so far. Things have not been so smooth with the friends she used to hang with; loyalties and popularity-ratings have changed the picture substantially since 4th grade, and it's no easier observing it than it was living through it.