Happy Yom Kippur!

It seems antithetical to say "happy Yom Kippur!" for a holiday that is, let's face it, extremely depressing, but I had a good holiday this year. No, scratch that -- a GREAT holiday.

The day began with Rachel tentatively knocking at our bedroom door. Drew was asleep. I hated to wake him but eventually I called out, "Come in, Rachel!" She toddled in, Drew offered to lift her up and join us, and she explained, "I thought you'd be upset if I came in, so I waited a while and then knocked on your door." Drew asked if she had knocked loudly or softly, and she said softly. We both praised her for being incredibly considerate. (Sometimes it really does feel as if we have another adult living with us!).

Family time eventually devolved into tickle time when Rachel said, "Let's tickle Mommy's FEET!" and she and Drew made me howl with laughter. Then it was tickle Daddy, and tickle Rachel, and then Rachel kicked me accidentally in, as Drew put it to Rachel, "the soft parts of Mommy's body." When I said "Ouch!" and "Stop it, Rachel, you're hurting me!" she burst into tears and was only consoled when I took her in my arms and said over and over, "it's OK, Rachel, I'm not mad!" Then she did the sweetest thing -- she leaned her cheek against mine and I could feel her eyelashes fluttering against me. "You're giving me butterfly kisses, sweetie!" I said softly. She stayed there for about 10 minutes. It was great.

Then she and Drew ate breakfast while I got ready for synagogue. They dropped me off and then went to the farmer's market and Rachel's ballet class (she did great again this week, Drew said, and is really looking forward to her recital next month) while I sat in temple and listened to a really good sermon. Then I attended the discussion afterward, and met Drew and Rachel for the children's service at 2:15.

The kids' service was GREAT. The kids joined the rabbi on the bima. Rachel wore a yarmulke like the other kids and kept shouting out the answers until Rabbi Cahana gently told her that some of the other kids wanted to take a turn answering, too. (Sample question: What do we say "I'm sorry" for? Answer from Rachel: "Because we did bad things." The rabbi then said just because you do something bad, it doesn't mean you're a bad person. Rachel answered, "it doesn't mean your parents don't love you!" and the other parents nodded approvingly).

I was going to stay for the afternoon service, but the day was so beautiful -- sunny and 68 degrees -- that we decided to go to the park across the synagogue instead. It has a terrific play structure and Rachel, as is her wont, quickly made friends. "Do you want to play with me?" a little girl named Harper, 4 1/2, said to Rachel. (She told Drew she was in "early kindergarten."). They exchanged names and then Harper took Rachel's hand and they went off to play. It was incredibly sweet.

Rachel also met a little girl named Charlotte, who just turned 3. Charlotte saw Drew horsing around with Rachel -- turning her upside down, chasing her, etc. and immediately wanted to do the same thing. Eventually Drew lifted them both up and carried them around, much to the delight of me and Charlotte's parents. Rachel showed off everything she can do on the monkey bars, including turning herself upside down, hooking her feet on the top part of the monkey bars and stretching in the most amazing yoga poses.

She had nap when she got home, and then it was off to my friend Miriam's house for a break-the-fast nosh. Drew and Rachel joined us after Rachel woke up, and she proceeded to charm everyone at the nosh. Most of the folks were grownups and I was happy to see her ask politely for watermelon. She ate some raspberries and my homemade fig cake with buttermilk glaze before we all went home and she went to bed.

Now it is almost 11:30 but we have rented "In the Garden of the Finzi-Continis," which somehow feels appropriate for this day. Shana tova to all!