Mommy Morah

Crutches aren't much fun. Oh, they look exciting as a kid. Those so afflicted revelled in the attention. Not me. I was proud of my never-cast-never-accident claim to fame. In fact, when my daughter hurt her finger last year my shock was largely centred on "that happened to my daughter?!?". So when I found myself swinging around with a sprained ankle three weeks after my third was born I was none too pleased. The biggest irony of the whole event, though, is all about my momma. You see, for five years I have been saying that my goal in life is to be just like my mother. And she had also just sprained her ankle. Only that wasn't what I meant! What I really meant was I wanted to imitate Mommy's... 1. EMPATHY: My mother is the best listener you ever meant. "How to Listen so Kids Will Talk?" That's her. She totally integrated those principles. And more, because many an adult finds themselves spilling their deepest and darkest to her on their first...

My sister Chava is the most awesome person you'll ever meet. Fun, active, thought-provoking and just gorgeous. She wrote an incredible piece on her jury experience this week. Enjoy! The court room is tense. The room is silent, everyone is following directions, there's about 40 people and I'm #3. The judge begins asking each person questions. #1 then #2 and suddenly my hearts racing and I hear the judge say #3! I am sure everyone can see my heart pumping, my red face and my shaky voice. All eyes are on me. I'm talking to the judge! The judge keeps reassuring us, its all good, no need to worry, there's no right or wrong. My turn passes.   For the next group question you have to raise you hand to answer yes, and I again, this time way more relaxed, raise my hand and answer the judges questions. Not so tense and scary after all.   This experience hit home. This is exactly the time frame we are in right now...that tense aura of the month of elul, hear...

Garlic. How many ways are there to slice it? Newest trick: Put a clove into the pan while roasting chicken. The aroma it lends to the food is incredible! Sounds simple? Maybe. But did you know that you don't even have to peel the thing??? The peel is so small, slim, paper-thin really, you would think it hardly matters at all. Still, the chef explained that it creates more sweetness when you leave the peel in. We can skip the mechanics of that one - the cool thing is how well it ties into the upcoming Yomim Noraim. When the new year chugs in, there's always a lot of hype about resolutions, making them stick... one technique out there is baby steps. Still, I often want to feel grand and create a whole new me overnight. The answer is a slim as a garlic peel. Even the tiniest things can make a whole world of difference and draw an incredible AROMA into the food. One slim little change is all that's needed. Now that's doable! K'siva V'chasima Tovah :...

Texting has destroyed my ability to write!!! Suddenly, I find myself ending sentences in multiple exclamation marks. The shorter the sentence, the better. Ugh. I tried writing an article for a local magazine, but I kept on restarting. I just couldn't get the words to flow. I used to be able to churn out an article or post with ease. Write a few paragraphs on a given subject in passable English? Sure, just give me twenty minutes. And here I am... choppy sentences and all. What happened to me? Recently, I even caught myself thinking in text. The thoughts scrolled in, bit by bit, with a  brief interlude to type the words, as though they were coming across a whatsapp chat. Now this has got to stop! There was a little bit of myself, the author in me, that had just started emerging, but since I joined the ranks of smart-phone owners... gone... So here I am, forcing myself to write out a thought in more than the top sentence. I'm not particularly pleased with the piece, ...