Yom HaZikaron

It’s a Sunday night. I’m in bed listening to “soft rain” on my Aura app as I try to lull myself to sleep… and then wham! A childhood memory floods my brain. I’m not sure why. It could just be that the Jewish New Year is around the corner. I tend to get sentimental as this time of year always brings up good memories. 

This memory was like I reached deep into a pants pocket and pulled up little Jessica over at Grandma and Grandpa’s house in Glencoe, Illinois. My grandma is making me popcorn in the popcorn machine in the kitchen. Grandpa is in his chair in the tv room watching an old western. I am happy. I dig deeper into my pocket and pull out a memory of my friend Meri and I playing “Wheel of Fortune” in her basement in the 80’s. It’s an old video game. We are having fun and laughing at how Vanna White walks. I see Vanna flipping the letters over as we take turns spinning. We laugh together. I dig into my pocket again and pull out a memory of my friend Lara. She lost her battle with cancer a year before I was diagnosed with my first bout of it. I look at the movie in my mind and see us at work… on the 5th floor at ABC News… eating potato latkes and apples with honey for Rosh Hashanah. I smile. I cry a little.  

I don’t know why these memories are coming to me. I legit was just trying to fall asleep. What I do know is that I am blessed with memories of a good childhood and a good adulthood. Maybe the memories came to me from my angels above. Maybe it’s their way of reminding me they are watching over me. I dig in my pocket again and see myself at the synagogue, in Skokie, for New Year’s services for children. The rabbi is lighting candles. My parents are in the main sanctuary where I hear sounds of the shofar: a Tekiah… a Shevarim…  a Teruah. The ram’s horn will sound again soon. Rosh Hashanah 2021/5782 begins this week. A new year.  Reflection will begin. New memories will be made. For now… I just want to fall asleep listening to the “soft rain.”