shabbat shalom 28.01.10

Thu, January 28, 2010 7:08:39 AM
From: Linda Whittaker ~olsvig2000@yahoo.com~
To: Linda Olsvig-Whittaker Olsvig-Whittaker ~olsvig2000@yahoo.com~;
Linda Olsvig-Whittaker ~Linda.Whittaker@npa.org.il~

Hi everyone,

This has been a grey week. It rained for quite a few days and got quite cold. Although we need the rain, I still have a virus for three weeks now, coughing and sneezing, so it made me feel miserable and depressed. In addition I was anxious about my car. Just got it back last week after changing the catalytic converter for the second time in a month (and it really was reduced to powder inside), so I was afraid of another engine failure on the road.

Not wanting to break down in heavy morning traffic, I started getting on the road by 6:30 am and in the office by 7 am. This was good in many ways and I may keep doing it, but the idea was to be traveling at hours when the garage was available in case of breakdown. REALLY not fun; very stressful in fact.

However, so far my car has been okay and it has been two weeks since the last engine failure. I begin to think the buggers at the garage finally fixed it after two months of trying, and about half a dozen breakdowns since November. (It has gotten to the point that people who know me automatically ask "How's your car?" rather than "How are you?")

By Wednesday, I had enough of this. I was getting dizzy spells, either from stress or from the virus getting into my inner ears. So in late morning I just bagged it, told the secretary I'm taking the rest of the day off and will be back at work on Sunday. One of the smarter things I've done lately. With 30 days of accumulated vacation time, I can afford to take the time to rest and recover, but am usually too stubborn to do it. Just got done counselling a workaholic friend with pneumonia to take more time to rest than he thinks he needs, and then thought to myself "stupid, take your own advice". This long weekend is what the doctor would have prescribed, and I'm beginning to feel human again.

Which takes me back to my drinking days....how did I handle it then? I drank to relieve the discomfort and stress, and to energize myself. This was exactly the kind of situation where in the past I would have one of my periodic binges, to escape the misery and to keep on working. I didn't have sense enough to take care of my health and get enough rest. Even now, the decision to do that is not instinctive; I have to tell myself to do it after some reflection. It will probably never be instinctive, but training beats a blank, I guess.

Just to make life even more cheerful, today is International Holocaust Memorial Day and Israel of course is full of it. Some interesting points: our prime minister addressed the German Parliament - in Hebrew. Take that, Hermann Goering. Germany is one of the best friends Israel has these days, but even so we can't help rubbing it in sometimes. It's a complicated, but deep relationship, with both love and pain.

Sort of in honor of the occasion, I watched "The Pianist", about Jews in WWII Warsaw. Uff, not something to watch if you are feeling depressed and the weather outside is bleak. Having learned my lesson, I think tonight I will watch my DVD of "The Simpsons".

Hopefully my car continues to behave and I can gradually rejoin the human race again. This last month was a nightmare and I really felt isolated; afraid to visit or take part in any evening activities in town, and under constant stress. I had taken my car for granted and didn't realize how dependent I am on it. This is sobering because I don't like to drive and at some point in retirement would like to give that up. Either the bus service gets better out here or I better consider a move into town somewhere. Har Gilo is too isolated at present with only four buses per day, even though it is only ten minutes from Jerusalem by car.

Today was sunny and I was glad to have the daylight to walk around. The early flowers are blooming (I know them in Latin but that won't help you): small daisies, a wild hyacinth-like flower, and of course the almonds. This shabbat is Tu B'Shvat, the New Year of the Trees, and it is the traditional time for almonds to be in bloom. (Actually it was the tax year in ancient times so this is rather like celebrating 15 April, the American income tax deadline, as a spring holiday). The holiday is cute, though: modern Jewish National Fund reforestation events turned it into a nice celebration. People plant trees and eat fruit and nuts from trees; stuff like that. Well, this year I planted six rose bushes; does that count???

Guess that is all. Life is a little less bleak but I sure hope I don't have to do another month like this January for a long time to come. UFFFF!

shabbat shalom
Linda

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