For years, September to me meant Change – a new page in the book of my life.
First, I was a school kid with skinny legs and knobby knees running for the bus with my ponytail flying in the wind.
Each September my teachers changed and my grade level accelerated. But the two people who greeted me at the end of my first day of school every year were always the same: my mother and my grandmother.
Then I grew up and my perspective about September underwent another sea change.
There were the tears – whoops, I mean years – that I thought would go on forever – when I sent my own little kids off to school in September – initially in car pools, then on big yellow school buses and then, when they turned 16, driving in one of our family cars. Even though their grade in school, their teachers, and the schools they attended all changed in September, I was always there to see them off to school and to welcome them home. (One of my fondest memories is of my son, Sam, upon seeing my smiling face greeting him at the front door as he breezed in from school, say, “Gee, Mom, do you ALWAYS have to be here when I get home?”)
September had a cruel side to it too. My beloved grandmother died in September – just as those luscious green leaves began to turn a crusty orange and gold. And years later, our family lost our iconic patriarch – my dad – and my first cousin lost her oldest son – all in September too.
The years roll by. Now my children send their children off to preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school. And my feelings about September have shifted yet again.
So many days I have spent trying to clear the clutter of my life in order to find a clearer path. So many days I have spent feverishly pursuing my to-do list – oblivious to the many pleasures and much good fortune I already possessed.
Tonight, at sundown, is the beginning of the Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashanah – a holiday filled with joy, reverence for renewal and wishes for sweetness in the year 5784.
This Rosh Hashanah, I’m feeling a turn in my attitude away from loss and nostalgia and toward gratitude, serenity and acceptance – another significant change occurring in September.
We as Jews go to the synagogue. We pray. We indulge in festive meals. We eat challah round in shape, dip apples in honey and exclaim over the chicken soup and brisket. That too is a change – a change in pace from our normal scrounged together dinners, eaten without our families surrounding us and then quickly finished so we can hurriedly tackle the next task on our ever-burgeoning to-do list.
May we all – Jews and non-Jews – take time out this September – to set aside precious moments to dine together, break bread together, discourse and discuss together. And of course, wish each other days filled with abundance, good health and many blessings.
Keep Preserving Your Bloom
Iris Ruth Pastor
Who hasn’t gotten mad at their kids, yelled at their husband, neighbor or co-worker and endured an occasional dark and dismal day?
I certainly have! But in spite of it all, I have found profound happiness at every stage and at every age in my life.
It all involves being the best version of yourself. And I can show you how to find that magic inside you that will allow you to live the life you crave.
Join me on November 8.
