Things My Shaliach Never Told Me: On the Road Again

I returned on Thursday from a 2-week visit to the States. I had a wonderful time. First I spent a weekend at the Bergenfield, NJ home of my dear friends Rivka and Moshe, taking advantage of their location in the tri-state area to see also Judah and Carolyn, Jess, Lisa, and Roseanne -- and, of course, to do a major shopping at Talbots and to soak in the sights, sounds, and smells of Manhattan. God do I love Manhattan.

Then I spent a week and a half in my parents' new house near Cleveland. My sister was there too, with her husband and three sons, for Passover. It was my first time meeting my newest nephew, David, who is one year old. These three boys are so adorable and affectionate and fun. It was fantastic to see my family. Most of my time in Cleveland it was snowing heavily, so I didn't get out much, but that was fine since I was having a great time playing my role of Best Doda Ever.

On the way home I had to switch airports, with a few hours to kill in between. My former roommate Shoshana picked me up from LaGuardia and we went out for lunch in Queens, before I headed to JFK. Despite the fact that Shoshana was stuck in traffic on the way, making her an hour late, and then the pasta restaurant we wanted to go to was out of pasta, and the pizza place was full, and the other pizza place was full, so we ended up at the Chinese place with horrible service and an abusive man at the next table insulting his girlfriend and her child . . . it was terrific to see Shoshana!

All my flights were uneventful. Swiss Air is a very good airline.

But the best part of the trip was exiting Ben Gurion airport when I got back, breathing in the warm air of Israel, and thinking "I'm so incredibly happy to be home."