Absence Explained

Hi everyone,

Sorry I've been out of touch for a little while. I didn't manage to write anything last Sunday evening as we were too busy celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Fifty years - that's a long time! Woohoo - mazal tov (and well done) to them!!! Actually, to be more precise, on Sunday evening we were too busy recovering from the celebrations, which took place in London, on Sunday afternoon. I'm very pleased to report that all aspects of the festivities went very well indeed, better than the wedding itself, in fact, which took place at the start of the "Big Freeze" in London in the winter of 1962, under 6 feet of snow.

We flew in from here on Christmas Day, and my sister and her family came in from Australia. (I also have 2 siblings who actually live in London.) My one-and-only uncle also flew in from the US, which was a lot of fun for everyone. It was the first time all 10 of my parents' grandchildren had ever been together, and it was a very special few days. We put together a few cheesy songs about my parents, to the tunes of some of the classics from The Sound of Music. They were well received, but I will spare your eyes and ears and refrain from posting a link to the "performance". You had to be there...and luckily for the majority of you, you weren't.

The rest of the 6-day trip was a whirlwind of visiting and being visited by family, and seeing a few old friends. We didn't try any ambitious day trips and managed to stay in north-west London the entire time. Easy! For the first time ever, we greatly enjoyed the weather in London which was several very significant degrees higher than the insane winter temperatures we have recently become accustomed to here in Teaneck. It was great not to have to take our ski gloves with us every time we left the house. But of course it was still miserable and gloomy and depressing as only England can be.

I am very proud to say that we made it onto our correct return flight to JFK, and avoided a repeat performance of the shameful flight-missing debacle back in August. But it was obvious that my children have  lost that awe and respect that kids usually have for their parents' innate ability to successfully navigate the travelling process. This time, we just let the children take charge - I can no longer be trusted. Avrom, of course, is a seasoned traveller, but, crucially, he is used to travelling alone, and that is quite a different experience from travelling with 5 family members, some of whom are quite small and have rather short legs that can't keep up with his freakishly long ones. He is also not used to having to converse and interact with people on aeroplanes, especially people such as his wife, or other close relatives. He does not appreciate this particular duty.

Coming back from London to our place here, instead of going back to Ra'anana, was a little odd. It wasn't quite like coming home, but it was nicely familiar and - once the heating was on - quite cozy. And I was pleased to be reacquainted with my over-sized washing machine. It was nice to have been in a place for a week where people didn't think we talked funny and we could buy proper Cadbury's chocolate whenever we fancied. On the other hand I think the children were quite happy to return to their lovely American school and their mini-celebrity status as exotic foreigners.

I took the kids into school at around 9.30 the morning after we arrived back, and Tzofia slipped straight into her Zumba class. Yes - Zumba for 5-year olds. Welcome back to America!