I did not grow up in a fully observant home. It's a decision I came to while in high school. Looking back, I frequently wonder how I managed to survive without Shabbat.
While Sean prepares for Shabbat in Japan and the hazards of maid service turning off lights, I am juggling garage door repair, the barbecue (until I ran out of propane), the oven, homemade challah dough, and three children. It's no wonder my pre-Shabbat shower happened Sunday morning.
Still, it was a wonderful Shabbat. We sat down to dinner by 5:00 PM. By 6:43 I was lying down and the kids were actually finishing the clean up from dinner, washing dishes, and even bentching. (The debate over whether or not they needed to do a zimun was especially amusing.) Each kid managed to come check in with me. By 8:30 I told Gavi and Keren to get ready for bed. I don't actually know if they did. I was asleep shortly after.
Saturday morning I woke up rested for the first time since Sean left. When people ask me how he's doing, I've taken to say, "better rested than I." Gavi and Keren were amazingly awake with lego and marbles strewn across the kitchen floor. Jesse was nowhere near awake. I took the opportunity to head off to shul in time for Shacharit, a novel thing for me as Gavi and Keren can't seem to get moving out before 9:40 AM on a Saturday. I managed to linger at shul until 1:30 PM, less unusual.
A miracle occurred. Jesse got Gavi and Keren to clean up most of their mess in the kitchen, of course much was transferred to the basement, but that's where it should be. We had a nice lunch of leftovers, which the kids grazed through all day. No nap this Shabbat, but a great game of Trivial Pursuit with Jesse. I still win, at least for now.
Saturday night I was back to lack of sleep. Sunday was filled with organizing the house and a trip to the Ontario Science Centre. By the evening I was yawning nonstop. Dinner out because I couldn't bear to even think about cooking.
And the week begins again....
