“Man plans, and God Laughs.”
—Old Yiddish proverb
It has been a challenging two weeks. Despite our best-laid plans, Cecile and I had to cancel our much anticipated three week tour of Bolivia, Machu Picchu and the Galapagos Islands with our friends, the Byes. But, as they say, life goes on.
We are blessed to live in a rich supportive, multi-cultural community, and we wouldn’t have it any other way. I bumped into an Iranian American friend at Courtside Bay Club. I shared with him the personal issues that forced us to cancel our trip. We then went on to talk about the twin-engine Cessna airplane that recently took a sudden nose-dive and crashed into a parking lot in Santa Ana, CA. Five people died, including an Iranian woman in her early 60s who was a beloved mentor to our friends son. Suddenly, the personal challenges and setbacks Cecile and I were experiencing paled in comparison.
I went to get a haircut at “Happy Cuts” and was assigned to a gentle soul and good-humored Vietnamese American hair stylist named Kim. She asked if I travel much? I spared her the details about having to cancel our trip and spoke about our travels to South East Asia including Vietnam earlier in the year during the Vietnamese New Year (TET). Like the much beloved late Anthony Bourdain, we love Vietnam and the Vietnamese people.
Later in the afternoon, I bumped into our next door neighbor, Vladimir, a retired engineer with a passion for furniture restoration. I asked him for some advice on repairing a picture frame that had fallen off our wall. Vladimir is a native of Moscow who has lived at Rinconada Hills with his wife Lucy for 20 years. He meticulously fixed the frame in his garage with the skill of a surgeon.
After a delicious nap, Cecile and I were among the honored guests of our friend's Ruth and Stan for the Friday Jewish Sabbath (Shabbat) meal at their Almaden Valley home. Many of those present were transplants from the East Coast like myself. Though the Bay Area will always be our home there is nothing like exchanging the colorful New York and New Jersey tales of my childhood with those who can more readily appreciate it.
It has been said that hospitality is simply an opportunity to show love and care. Stan and his gracious, vivacious and charming wife Ruth express that in spades. Forever generous with her praises, I have never heard Ruth have a bad word to say about anyone among her large network of friends and our mutual acquaintances. She is always the light and life of the party and derives a great deal of joy in sharing the attibutes of her friends at any given gathering.
Shabbat begins as sunset approaches with the lighting of the candles and a blessing over a special braided bread called Challah that is broken into pieces and passed around for everyone to share. Though it is not a tradition I grew up with, I gratefully embrace it as my own. Our good friend and neighbor Mark Brodsky originally from Long Island, chanted the Hebrew prayer with a deep voice and rhythmic cadence, something he always enjoys doing when the opportunity presents itself.
This ancient ritual, is symbolic of giving thanks to the creator for the food we are fortunate to eat and the mechanism by which the raw grain from the blessed earth is used to make the bread that finds its way to the table of most Jewish households around the world.
We ate our main meal under the night’s sky. Ruth made her signature brisket (delish…), along with asparagus, salad, miniature potato pancakes, followed by an assortment of cookies, and apple pie for dessert. The conversations flowed as easily as the assortment of wines being offered. No one gets through life without scars, without “tsuris” which in Yiddish means aggravating trouble, and that includes everyone we broke bread with at our table.
Ruth’s favorite quote in this regard is that “Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” Though attributed to John Lennon, it has descended from an old Indian proverb. Its first contemporary use was by Portuguese writer, Fernando Sabino. It means one should be happy because everything is never going to be completely the way we want it to be unless it is the end, so accept the fact that life is always filled with flaws and enjoy the moment. We all have personal setbacks, losses of loved ones, illnesses or accidents, broken hearts and at times tortured minds by events beyond our control. On the other hand, life can provide us with unanticipated good fortune.
