Simply Mom

I am wrapping up my second trip to Israel in six months and the pace is likely to continue. Last July my younger daughter, her husband and their three children made the permanent move to the land that holds their hearts...and they hold mine.

My situation is not different from that of many other long distance mothers and grandmothers. I know I am fortunate that I can get there, within reason, pretty much whenever I want. Yet, almost without exception, whenever anyone other than dear friends asks about them, the focus is on the unsettled political situation and the inconvenience of the distance. Oddly, almost no one asks about what we do when I am here, what I think of the country that is so often in the news, the benefits of their living here. Just a ramped up anxiety about their safety and pity for me.

I think the media is doing too good a job of providing hyped information masqurading as news. While I am here, I am Mom and Bubbe doing every day things, hanging out, and basking in the glow of watching a wonderful couple happier than I have ever known them. It is one of my greatest pleasures -- no matter where they get their mail.