The hotel bill is paid and it’s the last 24 hours now and I will soon be leaving, first in my head and then with everything else. What will I remember about this trip? What’s made it different?

I will remember how wonderful the weather has been to allow us to enjoy the beach and the sea right out there in front of us in this perfect hotel facing the sea. It’s always with us and in this enviroment of living room/bedroom/etc. we can be inside and feel the outside on the balcony early in the morning and late at night. We were in this very same apartment last January and could really not enjoy the outside on the outside. It was cold and windy and rainy and Tuvia got the flu.

Vacation is still about the weather and this weather has been perfect for us to enjoy the place and the people. I am comfortable here and it’s a good time to be here. Sure, you are always careful and watchful, but things here are calm, until of course, they are not. After 11 years and then some, I can be here, not really communicate in Hebrew and still feel connected to the place. I can see what’s changing and what needs changing. When we are here, there’s always an unspoken commitment to return, when will we return?

Tuvia is watching me write now, wondering when I will finish and get ready for our next adventure. I have about 5 minutes to spend with this post before he becomes really ready to move out. Maybe less. Okay, for now, I have to take a break and get ready to celebrate the birth of a new baby. Now that’s always a wonderful reason to celebrate.

And in the midst of all this heaven there’s that elephant on everyone’s back: the Palestinian question, Gaza, the West Bank, Hamas, Fatah, politics, suicide bombers.  I know my friend Tom, is never excited about my trips here, relieved when I’m back in the US.  I can’t say that I don’t totally think about danger, but then I don’t feel totally safe anywhere.  That doesn’t stop me from coming here anymore than it stops the people who live here from living.  That’s a fear you just can’t hold you back from living.

There’s a real frustration here, among Tuvia’s good friends who share his passion and optimism for Israel.  But this time they all seem exhausted by the politicans and their greed.  The news about Olmert and his corruption has turned many Israelis off to his crediblity.  I do hear positive things about having Barack in the government although no one seems to like his approach to people.  Will there be progress toward a two state solution?  Doesn’t sound like it at this moment.  And what about Zippi Livni, our new Israeli hope?  Those we trust are not too impressed with her.  So for now, while Israel is doing well and it’s quiet here, there’s a wait and see attitude.

For us, it’s home in a few hours and just in time to enjoy fall in New York.

I’m ready.  I can’t wait to get back to a digital story.

We are sleeping through the night, we are eating well, we have our routine and it revolves around the sea, the beach, our food spot, Banana Beach, for breakfast, for a drink at sunset. Sure we have been at this beach view hotel for the last 3 years, but the weather never allowed us so much opportunity to really embrace the beach every day. So yes, we have plans to return at exactly this time next year.

Lots has been happening here and home as Kevin and I prepare for our online conference presentation. It’s great that we can both feel good about our contributions. I’ve been thinking about collaboration and for this virtual one. from my position, it’s been without ego. Kevin clearly has more comfort, experience and technical expertise than I do, but somehow even though he takes the lead often, he always respects and encourages my voice and never makes me feel that I have a lesser role. I have been growing, sharing and feeling great about my role in this project. I have one more piece to complete and it will have to wait until I get home to use my better mic, thanks to Kevin’s recommendation to switch to a Blue Snowball. What a difference. I have my mic headset here and it’s just not as good. but my text is ready to go and I feel great about that and the process. I read my piece to Tuvia and he totally stayed interested and understood the project roots better. Virtual collaboration is powerful.  Is it as powerful as the more traditional face-to-face, I don’t know? Maybe.  When Kevin and I Skype or meet in person it has been as warm and connected as our online connection.  I wonder who’s writing about the power of this social networking?

I am grateful for the opportunities I’ve received. One great step since I finished my teaching career. Actually I owe a lot to getting a email flyer about 8 years ago, advertising a weekend writing retreat sponsored by the Hudson Valley Writing Project at Bard. I skipped over the HVWP and saw BARD first and foremost. I had a conflict that summer for the Bard week and the weekend at the very end of school was perfect for my schedule. Joanne Falinsky was running it with a Bard facilitator I was dying to work with. I was there and loved the intimacy of it all. Joanne shared information about the HVWP and I was interested. The following summer I was there, in the SI’99 and the rest, as they say is my history!

Now there’s a good place to identify and to end this post. Tuvia is reading his daily newspapers on the computer provided by the hotel, imagine. But soon I will get the call to move to the next activity. He’s been great about my clicking away on my computer, so it’s time for a shower. I’m off…

  Imagine, 11 years together, 11 years traveling to Israel and even though I still don’t speak Hebrew, I have a sense of peace and comfort here as we begin each day with a blow of cereal and a cup of instant coffee(Israeli style) and from our balcony the day begins just across the highway, as locals walk at the edge of the sea.

Tuvia grabs the news on local TV and I write into the day.  It’s a relaxed routine: beach walks, trips for Tuvia to see old friends, dinners with Ami, Adi and their kids, travel by train to the north, to the south, to Jerusalem.

We are here for almost two weeks. If we hadn’t met 11 years ago I can’t imagine that I would have been here so often.  Sure, I have my own history here, but my year of Israel came and went as a great adventure but it became history.  Eleven years ago we broke the Yom Kippur fast together and that changed everything.  A cup of coffee and a bagel with whitefish salad and Tuvia standing next to me at Rena’s and life has never been the same.

And it’s time for that beach walk to usher in the first day without jet lag.

 Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashana didn’t sued to be my favorite Jewish holidays but probably with the coming of Tuvia I found more peace in their celebration.  I enjoy the synagogue we attend, a very funky one in Hoboken where the rabbi is very inspirational in a  modern, less conventional way.  I guess it helps too that he plays guitar, not on the holidays though.  I actually enjoy his sermons.  He often connects them to literature or political issues of the day.  I love the place, restored after a long period of decay and emptiness and now the place and the congregation are flourshing with a mix of ages and on the holidays the place is filled to beyond capacity.  We are very well treated.  Tuvia’s sons have served as presidents and let their mark.  His daughter-in-law reads torah and his grandaughter is now the choir.  There’s lots of good reasons for us to attend.

It’s a first for us to be leaving for Israel a few hours after we break the fast, but it worked out best for us to be in Israel during this 2-week period.  The weather will be great, it was terribly cold when we were there in January and the day after we get back I will be racing with lots of upcoming events.

So I am packed now and ready to eat dinner at 4:00 to be in synagogue before sundown.  Kol Nidre, a powerful prayer to usher in Yom Kippur.  Lots of standing, repeated 7 times and the best is having Tuvia at my side.

I do have to write about the HVWP meeting last night.