October 4, 2016

Dear Baby,

Yesterday marked the Jewish New Year. Unlike years past we really stepped away from the celebration both familial and religious because getting to places on time with a baby is fucking chaos. 

Our usual 2 nights of dinners were turned into one night where we put you to sleep at your grandparents house so we could stay until the raging hour of 9pm and actually eat and the next night you dad and I warmed up leftovers in the microwave. It was pretty spiritual. 

While I have so many personal and spiritual issues with synagogue, I have up to now at the very least attended. This year we arrived at 11:36 perfectly in time to miss the bulk of everything only to leave 14 minutes later. Nothing says a holy connection like a ghost exit from the sanctuary. 

All this being said, I think that the Jewish New Year really taps into an appropriate time to ring in something new. The fall, the start of school that still impacts me 10 years out of school, the change of the physical landscape around us and the marked end to a summer vacation that we all experience. Days are shorter and more crisp and we have this opportunity for new beginning and reflection. 

Way better than January where everything is grey and shitty and you are still coming down from a total food coma/ sugar shock that is “the holidays.” Its like now that you have gained 5 pounds, let’s put on something dressy and forget how shitty the weather is until you have to get home in said shit weather and then you wake up and the next day is still grey and gross and your now hungover from champagne and a months worth of cheese 

And this new year I can’t help but think about all the change we have and are going through. You are one and your dad and I have had some marked moments too. I am back to working. He is working longer and harder than ever before and you are just exploding with new developments and wonders on the daily. We know that this will be a huge year for growth. You will eventually walk and talk and learn more about the world around you. 

But ch-ch-change is a good thing (I hope) and it’s inevitable so we might as well get on board the new year train. 

And that’s the thing, Baby, if you can embrace change, good. It’s scary, it’s intimidating and it’s uncharted but it is also magnificent and exciting and a time for you to shed some of the old and embrace a bit of the new. 

So cheers to a sweet sweet new year. 

xo

Mom