I was a stay-at-home
mom from the time that our first daughter was born until she was five and her
sister was three and I started full-time graduate school in statistics. Life
quickly became a juggling act for Barry and me. I knew I was one of the lucky
ones because Barry was almost more enthusiastic about my return to developing a
career as I was, and took his additional responsibilities in stride.
That first year was
difficult. Not only was I adjusting to a very different schedule and structure,
but, having been out of school for more than six years, I was trying to
re-learn study habits, not to mention basic calculus (which I had taken as a
senior in high school some 12 years earlier). It was a rocky start. One vivid
memory is of my professor in Mathematical Statistics (sort of the 101 course in
statistics graduate programs). I had the very strong sense from Professor S
that he did not believe I could do this; he fully expected me to fail by the
end of the semester. The first test did not go very well, but eventually I got
my stride, and a few days after the final exam he called me into his office and
was completely incredulous as he told me that I had achieved the highest score.
I got to thinking
about this when I woke up this morning. How in the world did I do all that? How
do so many other people manage to accomplish so much more? On the one hand, while
I know that being 60+ is not the same as being 30+, I do not feel very
different than that younger version of myself.
What undoubtedly
brought these thoughts to mind is that we have invited some friends over for Sabbath
lunch on Saturday. Over the years we have hosted countless numbers of friends
for Sabbath meals. For some years we provided home hospitality to visitors who were
in Riverdale over Sabbath; we even have a leather-bound “guest book” we started
keeping in which many wrote touching notes of appreciation. I look back and do
not recall this being a particular challenge. But now, I have to write down
every step and consult that list repeatedly. And I know everything is taking me
much more time to accomplish now than it did then, because there is simply no
way we could have hosted all that company with two full-time careers if I had
been this slow in the kitchen!
So here it is,
Wednesday morning. Barry is away at a meeting for a couple of days. Before he
left, he did all the grocery shopping so that I could start cooking today. That
should give me plenty of time to make one meal. We have had meals at the homes
of the two couples we have invited, and they are each a hard act to follow. If
all else fails, I figure they will cut me some slack, because, well…
Have a good day!
Love,
Rebecca
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