We are officially in New York.

You know what’s incredible… When we think of New York, we think of Manhattan, Long Island, Westchester, the Bronx… And yet there are all of these other places (anything not in the Metropolitan area) in New York that we overlook or do not respect nearly enough.  Just my though for the day.

Now for the deep stuff…

A couple of shabbats ago Ayelet fell down the stairs and got an enormous bump on her head.  She sat in Carrie’s lap, I kissed her keppy to make it better, we tried ice.  We were her world, and we continue to be her world.  I cannot recall for a moment when she got this way.  It happened before our eyes, and yet we have no idea when or how.  I have not been able to figure out when her hair grew, when she started to walk more and more, when her use of sign language became so good, when we began to actually communicate, it seems she has always done this.  I cannot recall life from before Ayelet.  I have no recollection of my life without her and I have no doubt my life is better with her.

Ayelet sits on our laps, and looks at us.  When I return home from work she is so giddy with joy to see me… It is inconceivable that she will someday be in college without us or having her own children.  I cannot comprehend that at some point in time I was my parent’s baby, and that at some point in time I left that role and became my own person.  It is unbelievable that at some point in time I did not cross a street without my hand in theirs.  I did not put on a shirt without their help.  I was a baby and now I am me.  How is that?  My daughter, my little one, my baby will, God willing, one day walk down an aisle and I will be by her side, and I will be a source of embarrassment for her.  Right now we are her world, and later on we will be secondary to so many other things.  Maybe what this means is that we need to learn to be thankful for our parents and all that they offer us.  Maybe what this means is that we need to grow to accept our fate as animals in that we progress and age.  Nothing can ever stay the same in this world, everything changes.  It is our responsibility to try to change things for the better.