People keep asking me...how was the trip? Amazing! And it was on so many levels....spending time with Noa, meeting her true love, meeting her true friends and seeing her family was worth the trip. Getting to know the Tel Aviv neighborhood where we were staying....floating in the Dead Sea, going to the excavation site on Masada, walking in the River Jordan. I am very blessed...I walked in the River Jordan, prayed at the Wailing Wall, lit a candle in the Church of the Holy Sepulture and the Church of the Nativity, ate blessed candy that we threw at Noa during her Mikva like she was a virginal float and drank blessed wine during Noa’s wedding.

The trip had many highlights before we even arrived in Tel Aviv –
Spending the best $200 ever to sleep in the Sofitel in the Heathrow airport for 6 hours and take a shower.
Getting locked in the glass elevator of said hotel on the first floor while Trisha was about to have an exhaustion meltdown and we had to pry our way out because you could only hear the alarm sounding IN the elevator...good plan.
Never figuring the lights out in our hotel room so anytime one of us went into the bathroom you had to turn all the lights on in the entire room or go in the dark. Outsmarted by fancy technology.
There were fancy Herme’ soaps and shampoo etc. I washed my hands then commented that is smelled like an old man from a yacht club just crawled into bed with us. Awful smelling like old rich people. Ick. That was an interesting start to the trip....all before we even boarded our connecting flight. At least here no one knew us, unlike in the Chicago airport where everyone was like...are you twins? Trisha, I didn’t know you had a twin. Oh you must at least be sisters! No really? You think she went from looking like my twin to someone I just bribed at the gate to take me to mini-ops? (the employee area at the airport) At least when we were around strangers we could just smile politely when they were mentally trying to figure it out.

I always say that in my life I’ve learned not to have one conversation in my head and another one coming out of my mouth. I learned this is not necessarily best on a long journey with a family member. For instance while going to our hotel in Jerusalem after a long day of touring that included the Holocaust Museum which was mentally exhausting she says... Do you think that’s a school or a library or a hotel...or a ......? I was sooo tired and what I was really thinking was...how the FUCK am I supposed to know? I DON”T READ HEBREW. I just say....Hmmmm good question. And those slippers....chhhh...chhhhh....chhhhh... that annoying sound as she scooted around. I confided in Laurie I was going to hide them or throw them away, she confirmed they were waking her up in the morning. Mom I’m sorry for all those times I did not pick up my feet when asked me to. I held my tongue on that until the last night having dinner at Noa’s parents when I knew she couldn’t wig out...much. The slippers stayed in Tel Aviv...in the trash can. But if that’s the worst thing, we’re all good. Honestly the worse thing was realizing that while we love and respect each other dearly I can’t have an actual discussion on most topics with my sister. She has very strong opinions, she understands everyone is entitled to their opinion, but she doesn’t actually see most other sides to things. It’s interesting because I swear you can see it on her face when she’s being like that....she turns into this other person that you can’t reason with. When discussing going to Bethlehem she commented that she didn’t believe in the violence and the conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians...so I say....Well yes, Ms. Living in A Bubble, but just because you don’t “see” it doesn’t mean it isn’t real. She said I live in a bubble blah blah blah. I’m not sure when she became so inflexible and opinionated, but I blame it on all the practice she got during the election. And the best is her intentions are mostly good, it’s the delivery that needs some work. But we both survived, I held my tongue, mostly because Laurie was there and I could roll my eyes at her or make the imaginary shoot myself in the head motion which was very helpful.

I was shocked that even during our zillion hour trip home neither one of us killed each other. I think it’s because we were so sleepy and I was consciously on my best behavior to not aggravate her. Plus we flew first class from London to Chicago – you’re too busy either drinking champagne or eating one of the 10 courses they serve you to get into trouble. I love the seats that lay back into a bed, I get spoiled. We really had fun on the trip home. We read a lot and laughed a lot. When I got to Chicago she went home and I was so exhausted I sat at the wrong gate for a long time, then finally realized it. I made a few phone calls that I loved not paying $2 a minute for. Then when I was finally boarding my flight this crazy guy comes flying up behind me in line, cursing American Airlines – there was a gate change, down about 3 gates no big deal, but apparently it was this guy’s last straw....he claimed he was having an asthma attack, it was illegal to make those connections so close together blather blather blather. I checked my mental state....hmmm....calm. There was a time when I would have been holding my tongue, I thought in my head, Sir...I left Tel Aviv almost 24 hours ago with an 8 hour time difference where I woke up at 3:38 a.m., I am a 45 minutes flight away from my house, I have kept it together all day on little to no sleep. Sir...keep it the fuck together. He was the type of guy that he’s co-workers were totally making fun of him and he had no idea. (hey wait – am I that type of person!? Nah) I was very calm, eerily so. I think I used to OD on Dramamine....taking only the recommended dosage does wonders on your physic state.

Speaking of physic state, today I started my day with an email from McJen saying the roads were bad from snow and she would be late. Snow? Hmm. I looked out the window and there it was. So beautiful. I made my coffee, finished getting ready for work wearing my new favorite matchstick cords from JCrew purchased this weekend, which already made me happy, and when I walked out to my car it was the fluffy powder that easily whisks away with the windshield wipers (unlike yesterday’s ice). It put me in the best mood, something about a snowy day. Then I got that song from Elf in my head....I’m singing, I’m in a store and I’m singing....I’m in a store and I’m s i n g i n g, which was making me laugh. I don’t know if it’s the yoga classes I’ve been going to (went last night to a new teacher who decided if I couldn’t actually get into the pose then he would essentially hold me there, which was an interesting concept, but it helped me learn more and figure out what it was supposed to feel like), or if was the coffee I was back on after drinking only tea for several days but I was giddy today. I even was serenading the plastic cutlery I found in the office kitchen....spoons glorious spoons I think is how it went. The office went “green” which meant they were not reordering any plastic utensils, which is a great idea, except when you have your oatmeal and no spoon, so it was quite the pleasant surprise to find a draw full of spoons. Ah the little things.

So tonight even after a meeting where I would normally want to poke my eye out and having to sit in my car and sing Christmas songs until the ice melted off my windows, I’m enjoying a glass of wine and I still have a clear perspective, I’m calm, and dare I say happy. Someone I was speaking to on the phone today said I sounded...radiant....I wonder how long vacation buzz lasts? I guess since it rolled straight into the holidays maybe I’m getting some kind of radiant halo effect of happiness. And I do know since I did say Happy twice I’m sure my car won’t start in the morning or if I had a cat it would be throwing up all night...I’m on a vacation buzz, I’m not completely hallucinating or out of touch with reality....for long.