Sarasota, FL – Part I: 5:45 p.m. on May 26th, Sam Schneider texts, “Perhaps Steve, Tali, you and I can go on the boat and do a Shabbat cruise until sunset.” I was out the door, drove home, picked up Steve, grabbed a bathing suit and drove to Sam and Tali’s home by 6:15. We walk in and he comments, “I haven’t seen you move that fast before.” I laughed and replied, “You said my favorite four letter word…B O A T.” We lit and blessed the candles, and we were off.
We packed the boat, reviewed safety, and then Sam churned the engine. Nothing. We waited patiently for the motor to kick in as our motto in both of our families is “just wait for it.” It finally started and we all took a sigh of relief. But as the four of us have learned, we make do with the current circumstances. Conversations were robust about the graying of my hair, our marriages, favorite songs of the 70’s and 80’s, our friendship, all of our kids, some politics as Sam’s views are opposite and he was quite outnumbered, our moms who have Parkinson’s Disease and Dementia, and the sights and sounds of being on the water: eagle rays jumping, a pink and white wide billed bird, low tide that seemed below sea level, and feel of the water temperature. Of course, we had the tastes of Shabbat as Steve had picked up a fresh challah earlier in the day from Jim’s Small Batch Bakery in Gulf Gate Mall thanks to the generosity  of a birthday gift card from Noah and Eileen Hochberg. We had good red wine, pineapple, club soda rum drinks, fresh tomatoes from our garden, hummus, chips, and spinach artichoke dip. It was a sweet welcome to the Sabbath. Thank you once again to the Schneider’s!

Part II: I made a quick stop at Trader’s Joe to pick up Sangria and fresh sunflowers for my mom on Saturday morning after shopping for her at Women’s Exchange as she has lost weight and she needed an update in her wardrobe. It turned out to be a trip down memory lane as I bumped into Jamie Marco at the wine tasting section. Back in the day when we had a Jewish Community Center (J.C.C.) in Sarasota, I was one of the head counselors and Jamie was my camper for several years. I met her when she was 8 years old. She is 38 years old now, married and a mom of a beautiful little girl. Time travels. Then, as soon as we bid our adieus, I turned and literally bumped into Ritchie, also a former camper, but from Camp Arrow, a camp I founded with partner, Dawn Wildermuth, in 2000. I felt so excited and proud to see my former campers living life well.

Part III: Later in the day, my BFF, Kala Sheckler, called and asked us to join them for dinner. She had just arrived back from an Italian sojourn, and we were happy to connect. The theme of our meals with the Sheckler’s usually include fish with Humbug sauce, one ugly dish, party drinks, a weird piece of fruit, and a fresh garden salad. This was no different, except we stepped it up with an antipasto dish to celebrate the recent Sicily adventures. The ugly dish was smashed potatoes and the weird fruit was rambutan. It is native to Malay-Indonesian region. Rambut actually means “hair.” Today it also hails from Puerto Rico. Jokes are usually abundant when one shares these amongst friends and the men had plenty of them. Dinner was filled with stories about recent graduations, college major changes, school options, the Thor story (for another blog, perhaps), yearbook updates, and small gift exchanges.

What happens within 24 hours on a Shabbat, goes in the blog! Feeling blessed and rested.