Eating & Shopping (i.e. Love/Hate)

Today I was reminded of two things. 1) I hate shopping. Not “don’t love it”. Not “mildly dislike”. Hate is the word I’m going with here. I was on a mission to get several Magen David necklaces for some of my favorite people in the world (that would be my sisters). But as you might expect, there are approximately 7,629 different styles of Magen Davids and almost that many different shops. Hate. Not kidding. I had a delightful cup of coffee with an Israeli that I’d only corresponded with by e-mail up to this point. It was great to hear what she’s got going on. I then proceeded to traipse around 7,629 shops looking at every style and shape and asking myself “Would Marilyn like this one? What about this one...is it chunky (read here: fun) enough for Deborah? Amy will probably like this one.” And on and on and on it went. I’m a good decision maker in most cases. Insert me into any equation with the words “buy”, “shop”, “browse”, “store” and I suddenly turn into the indecisive person every shopkeeper must well and truly despise. But I survived. And I conquered. And I quietly thanked my mother for only wanting the Ahava lotion which requires absolutely no decision making on my part.

The other thing I was reminded of today is that there are friends and then there are friends. And I got to spend time with the latter today. The first one I got to see today was someone I interacted with on a regular basis through my job here and he’s become a dear friend. I went to his office to say hi and ended up staying longer than I’d planned. We’ve exchanged e-mails a few times since I left but that’s it. Today was the first time I’d spoken to him in three years and it’s like I never left. I got to see his daughter who was just a kid the last time I saw her and now she’s all grown up. I know this makes me sound like your grandmother, but time really does fly. I can’t really properly explain how wonderful it was to sit in his office again and catch up on life over the past three years, laugh about the same things we used to completely crack up over and then have him give me good advice for the future.

Then I had dinner in the Colony with more of the latter type of friends. So very, very good to be with them again. It kills me that I live 8,000 miles from them. I realized once again how very blessed I was to have the group of friends I had when I lived here. They truly are what made the brutal Jerusalem life not only bearable but enjoyable. I’m hoping to catch up with a few of them again for coffee on Friday morning. Today promises to be another busy day so I’m off to start it with...you’ll never guess...a cup of coffee.

Halloumi sandwich and iced coffee from Aroma. For as much as I talk about the food here, yesterday was the first day I actually took time to eat before 7 in the evening.

Dinner at the Colony. Delightful food. Delightful friends.

In all honestness (yes, Tony...honestness...just for you), these people are pure awesome.