Advice From the Ladies Locker Room and Rosh Hashanah Hebrew Year 5783

 I was on my way to the indoor pool the other day for my usual swim session of lap swimming which I try to do a few times per week.  I like to brag to people that I have been swimming since I was five years old in 1963 when my mother made sure I received swimming lessons at Landerhaven Swim Club.  I love swimming just for the love of being in the water.   I was born in late February which makes me a Pisces and that is the astrological sign for that time of year.  I never put two and two together, meaning being a Pisces and my love of swimming, until a friend who is into astrology pointed this out to me.  

So the other day I was in the locker room and I heard a lady complain about how she looked in a bathing suit as she was analyzing herself in a mirror.  I walked by her and mentioned to her that I thought she looked perfect and then went on my way. I think she smiled.  I guess I just want people to be happy with the life they have in the moment.  Too many sad and frustrating things are happening in this world that we really have no control over.  We have our WW2 generation almost gone and I appreciate those that are still here. I enjoy a chance to listen to their stories.  My generation and especially younger generations are struggling to balance the role technology plays in their lives.  I truly thought that when internet technology first came out it would be a blessing.  But as days go by and new warnings of security and privacy invasions come to light at the local, national and even at the international level, I begin to wonder if technology and the internet is not a curse.

So how did I get from my joy of swimming to complaining ladies in a locker room to world security scares?  I am just thinking about this time in my life as we enter the Jewish New Year 5783.  Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur are the beginning of the New Year in the Jewish calendar.  Our family had a full family gathering of twenty five guests which has not hapened in two years since the Covid Pandemic.  Everyone was so happy to be together and, yes, we went crazy on the holiday festival dishes.  There must have been five apple themed desserts alone not to mention healthy kugels meaning carrots and cauliflower replacing potatoes, yuck!, I mean yum!  Anyway I just want to remind myself that it is the blessings we have everyday that should be noticed and no technology in the world replaces the love we have for our friends and families as we share the time together on this earth. L'Shanah Tovah!