Last night I got an e-mail reminding me to send in a bulletin article and picture for N.'s Bar Mitzvah announcement. (They reminded me later than the deadline--but that is another story that has to do with a three month period without a clergy assistant at our synagogue).
Announcement? Picture?
But didn't we just do the bris (circumcision and naming) a few years ago?
I don't know why, but this step in the process just stunned me.
It's strange.
He started his tutoring last April--I put the appointments in my calendar but no emotions about that.
In August when we started homeschool, I added a morning service and Torah study to his schedule. I enjoyed teaching him the trop (tunes) and the meaning of his chanting.
I ordered invitations in October--eInvite is a great site! But no emotions--just a sense of when they had to get out in the mail.
I addressed nearly 100 envelopes. Here it was a concern about getting them in the mail before Thanksgiving.
But that announcement in the Bulletin business--that started it. I became Nervous Nellie immediately.
Tonight he had his tutoring session and then a meeting with the rabbi to begin working on his D'var Torah. As our rabbi went over the responsibilities and priveleges of being a Jew--I started sniffling! Oy Vey! My little yidele is becoming a Jewish adult.
Since I had not yet scheduled a photographic session, we took a picture with our digital camera--actually several pictures. We needed to choose! We included N.'s dog in the picture because he is doing a Mitzvah project involving collecting needed items for gift baskets for people adopting pets at our county animal shelter.
And his dog is his constant companion. He wrote a little article about his Bar Mitzvah and the Jewish ethics for considering the needs of our animals.
See the picture at the top? Aren't they beautiful?
I am kvelling.
