Oh Brother!

Today was a day I decided to be a little "hard core" at the gym. Mike and I have started this great routine of "Daddy Lunch Day", where Mike will watch Josh during his lunch hour while I pump some iron at the gym. Today during my jog and weight lifting, I decided to listen to some Rise Against. Yes, Rise Against as in punk music. I believe I'm just about the only Mommy out there listening to some kick butt punk. It's my dirty little secret and the only thing that brings out my demons and gets me running. Along with my music choice, I decided to bring out my צה"ל Tsahal or Israeli Defense Force T-Shirt. It has those tough green and yellow army colors and it's controversial. Hey, I was in the mood!

In 1995, I was....gulp, 15. I'm Jewish and had just been confirmed in my religion. Not only was it a chance to celebrate, but it was my chance (just like every other Jewish 15 year old in the nation) to take a 5 1/2 week trip to Israel. I have so many memories from that great time in my life. I got to see so many things: Sunrise at Mt. Masada, the Wailing Wall, the Dead Sea Scrolls, swimming in the Red Sea, swimming in the Dead Sea, staying up late on some desert kibbutz feasting on watermelon and gazing at the stars, riding camels with Bedowins (a nomadic desert people that span all over the African and Arab world), accidentally walking out onto the army's shooting range only to be chased down by a humvee loaded full of soldiers and driven off to safety.....ah yes, so many memories (gosh we were stupid kids).

Many of our readers are parents, and now looking back as a parent myself, I couldn't even tell you how I could let my son travel to such a volatile area. Back then, I admit it was a little safer; and I mean "a little" as in miniscule amounts. While we were there, there were no bombings (Only the one at the Atlanta Olympics back home!) and though there were armed soldiers hanging out in town, I had never felt safer. It was the first time that I had been that far away from home and it was tough. After all I was 15 and was living in a bubble where I was a big fish in a little pond. I had known most of my friends since kindergarten. In Israel, I was placed in a situation where I only new several other kids and the rest of them were all from other places: New York, Los Angeles, Texas, Kentucky, etc. Not only that, but we were thousands of miles from home. I was no longer a big fish in a little pond. The only thing that we really had in common was our age and our religion. It was intimidating and during the first week there, I cried and cried. After all, how could my parents do this to me! I mean, I had a life (and boyfriend) back home. As the weeks went by, I met some great poeple and had some once-in-a-lifetime experiences. It changed me for the better and I came home a more mature 15 year old. I was much more self-confident & self-reliant.

The past 11 years have gone by quickly and since then, I ran off to San Diego when I was 19 and just recently ran off to Japan! I know that I have become a different woman than I would have if I had never left home. I'm doing things now that in my wildest dreams I wouldn't have imagined for myself. There comes a sense of self-accomplishment with that.

The reason I'm going on and on about this is because my favorite 16 year old brother is hopping on that horse and taking the first steps towards applying for college (reluctantly I might add). In fact, my mother just forcefully enrolled him into a Programming and Robotics Summer Camp at Stanford. He hasn't traveled much. His confirmation trip to Israel was cancelled because it was believed to be too dangerous that year. He's had some minor medical setbacks in his young life too. He's incredibly intelligent & very into computers & engineering. When he was 3 years old I can remember him sitting in his room amongst a pile of wooden train tracks for hours building winding passageways for his favorite trains. He has so much potential and I'm afraid he'll never be able to give it a test drive because of that same feeling of intimitation and fear that I had at his age. He has absolutely no will to want to leave home. So I say to you, oh Brother of mine, go for the gold. Although it doesn't seem like it, you are on the road to something great. You'll hit some obstacles along the way, but it will make you stronger. You just have to go outside the box and dream big.



These pictures are lame, I know. They were from a 15 year old girl! From top to bottom: (1) Me licking Kool-aid mix from the package because we had to flavor the desalted drinking water from the ocean. (2) Me getting on a grumpy camel. (3) Me hanging off of the cannon on a retired tank. (4) Sunrise on top of Mt. Masada.