Hello world!

Hello world. Tonight is my first post. What can I tell you all. Or the one person actually reading this. I suppose I can say good morning if you are reading this early in the morning. And go to sleep if you are reading around the time I publish.

I find that at the end of the day I have the most clarity, and I can think about the day that’s passed. Once I’ve digested that information I give the upcoming day some consideration. I don’t plan too much because there is no purpose. I know what needs to get done and I will do it, but I accept the fact that most of our life is out of our control.

I have so much to write. I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking since I lost my job and it’s amazing what conclusions I’ve reached, and the deep thoughts that I could spend hours wrapped in different ideas. I look at my life and am so grateful for the things I have and my accomplishments. I know of what has been and am so excited to find out what is in the road ahead.

Which brings us to Aliyah which in English means elevation. Not literally but when moving from anywhere to Israel it’s called Aliyah, and when people emigrate from Israel it’s called descending. No matter our geographic location we Jews look to Israel and see it up high in the heights (not washigton heights).

We are planning on making aliyah in May of this year. This blog will serve as my journal. Hopefully to cover the ups and downs of this process for years to come. It will also be a portal of information for my peers. And a source of therapeutic writing for me.

If you like my writing great. If you don’t I can’t help you there. This blog is for me but I do hope that people enjoy reading along.

Peace

Meconomics

I sit here doing my work with the constant hum of cnbc in the background. But today is not the usual market banter and speculation. Today seems to be a day of reckoning of sorts, a day where theories come to be realized as accurate or completely off the mark.

Chick flicks, what a trip

Chick flicks. No matter how hard I try to enjoy them I just can’t. And he’s just not that into you gets hung up in the back of my mental closet right next to mama sisterhood of the traveling bride wars.

Girls are lead to believe the stories in these movies. The only purpose that could ever serve would be if in some distant future guys realize that we have been wrong all along and in fact no matter how badly we screw up if we apologize at night in the rain and just when our girl is really getting into her stride of ripping us a new one we grab her and kiss her. And everything is ok. Roll credits. Simple no?

I like to think I could emulate spiderman one day. Same scenario of rainy night but I slowly lower myself with my special web and kiss my lady on her lips upside down. Now that sounds a lot better aaaand roll credits.

But the chick flick just ruins it for everyone. I mean the guys are all jacked and good looking without any body hair or flaws. The women are all crazy and there are no awkward silences while the guy thinks of the response to sweep the girl away. And if there ever is one the characters kiss and live happily ever after. Now this may sound like your life but it sure isn’t mine.

My life is a flurry of my flab and strangely placed body hair. I am all about the awkward silences that allow me to think of my response that generally come to me way too late. And the truth is I wouldn’t want it any other way. Maybe except the strangely placed body hair.

I would not want things any other way because as nice as everything looks in the movie I find real life far more attractive. I love everything about my life and enjoy every unperfect second of it. I cherish all the unexpected weirdness I encounter every day and just try to take in everything this world has to offer. At the end nothing really matters and most of us won’t either, but if we can have fun and make a difference to those close to us and make them happy I think that is the happiest ending a person could ask for.

Roll credits

Traveling

Traveling. We all hate it. We all dread it. And yet for some reason we repeatedly do it. Some of us travel for work, while some of us do it for vacation. And for the lucky few we travel just to see the ones we love.

In the past the average person was born and died within more or less the same area. And if someone was brave enough to leave their area most likely they would never see their family again. In todays world we can live wherever we choose and know that we will see our family through video chat and talk to them wherever we are. But the in person closeness cannot be replace by any technology.

So we pile into some form of transportation and head on our way. If everything goes according to plan it is a smooth trip and departures and arrivals are punctual and pleasant. However most likely the stress of the trip can start days before you even depart.

In my case Tania and I arrived at La Guardia wide eyed and bushy tailed (maybe that was doug) to find our flight canceled because of wind… I’ll let that digest for a second. WIND! but the funny thing is that I was not mad just disappointed. Basically the consideration came down to the fact that I’d rather be safe than leave punctually.

So what does this have to do with aliyah? It shows me that a person should live close to the ones they love so they don’t need to rely on the weather to see them.

Or just don’t fly out of La Guardia.

Peace

Themes

A little bird whispered in my ear that I should consider themes. I suppose this theme fits best. Another day another source of stress! Where does one begin? The truth is that it is still early enough in the day that I am sure many things could happen for the next 7-8 hours until I go to sleep.

My lesson of late is that everything can be put in perspective. I see misfortune all around me. People losing their jobs, their homes, and in some extreme cases a life’s work of saving and investing. Yet I can’t help but take a step back and put things into perspective, and somehow remain positive about current events.

On a personal level I am happy this sort of economic unrest is happening at such an early stage of my life. I am grateful to still have my health, and that I am married to my best friend. I see my friends all around me losing their jobs, and getting devastated by a situation that they had no control over. Any yet through all that I can not help but think of my fellow human being that is struggling to survive on the streets in India, or that is dying of aids in Africa. And I do not even need to go that far to find such unfortunate suffering, just here in a New York I know of my peers that are suffering from horrible life threatening diseases. 

But this is where the pessimist in me is transformed. I see all this, and I think to myself how lucky I am. How lucky I am that I have my health, that I was  born into a healthy family environment, that I have been able to achieve so much happiness in my short time here. I look around and see those that are close to me, and I become even more grateful for the love that I have all around me. 

Life is too short to stress about the small things. And there are to many negative variables out there that can happen to us at any time. So can’t we all agree that it is not worth being upset about what others have, or what we don’t have? If we were capable of just taking that step back when we get upset and look at what we have, I am pretty sure many of us will be a lot happier.

 

Peace