Hello.
It’s been a long time since I posted.
Long before this blog became a chronicle of our struggle with cancer, it was a place where I could make observations about the wonderful insanity that characterizes the amazing country where I chose to move. It was also the place to write about all the wonderful adventures I embarked on — from running ultra-marathons to crazy mountain bike rides.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no regrets about the direction the blog took.
Through CrossingtheYarden, we connected with friends and even strangers around the world. We raised hundreds of thousands of shekels to pay for Stella’s medical treatment. In the ride from the Hermon to Neve Daniel, we did our best to try and make the chemo room at Shaare Zedek a nicer, more comforting place for those brave, wonderful people making war on an evil, relentless opponent. Go Stella’s Army!
But this blog did so much more. This blog was how I met Gilly. A friend had shared that awful, final post before the end. She was moved and reached out to me. A few years later we are joined by an unbelievable cosmic bond of shared experiences, outlooks, and hopes for the future.
But I have already said all I can say about that chapter of my life. Every day I think about Stella and speak to her. But every day I also think about Gilly and how both of our lives have been turned around. No matter what happens during the day, we both can come home to a tidal wave of love.
I didn’t write for a long time for several reasons. How can I go from writing about a life and death struggle to telling funny stories about getting a driver’s license or sitting next to a naive, left-wing student who didn’t realize what he was getting in to when he said he had not had the opportunity to “meet a settler” while on a 12 hour flight?
Life did indeed stop for me on November 14, 2013, but the world continued.
And the world needs us to watch and laugh and marvel and understand how absolutely fortunate we are to be alive and living in the land of Israel. We get ticked off by things that in the larger view are silly and pointless when compared with just being alive.
I could blog about how amazing my kids are, how they have all grown up to be the kind of people their mother would be bursting with pride to see.
Maybe, we’ll see. But one thing is true.
Life IS beautiful.