The long awaited day finally did what such days do. It arrived with a flash and was gone almost before we realized. From our perch in the driveway we helped with preparations both for the party and for the house. We also were able to observe the rising levels of stress in the household. All was pretty much as usual, with the exception that I was watching my precious supply of propane dwindle rapidly in 10 F over night temperatures. There was a storm called for so no one would come to fill my tank and clearly I was not about to drive any place for a refill, which would have necessitated spotting the unit back into place, a non trivial project. We pulled in the slides, turned the heat down to 55 F and left it up to the fates. We left for our hotel room at the Omni in downtown Charlottesville where the party was to take place.

The first stop was rehearsal at CBI (Congregation Beth Israel). This was to be the only opportunity for picture taking in the sanctuary and here is Josh carrying the Torah.

After the rehearsal we had time to get settled at the hotel, greet the arriving guests and family and try to get our act together for Shabbat dinner at Escafe, a wonderful restaurant just a few steps from the hotel. We went to services, well some of us went, and then came back to the hotel where we stopped in the lounge to unwind before going to bed in preparation for Josh’s big day.

The Bar Mitzvah did his part of the service beautifully. The rest of us filled our roles as best we could, very well in most cases, and Josh got to deliver both his D’var Torah, teaching us about the portion, and a talk on the mitzvah projects he had performed as part of his preparation. The presentations by the parents were wonderful and my reservations about such presentations were lessened. If only more parents would talk about there hopes and dreams for the child and offer them solid advice drawn from the portion of the day and not tell us about what the child likes to do.

During the afternoon we escorted some people out to Dan and Malena’s house since they had never seen it and the sight of Gee 2 perched up there brought a chuckle or two in my car. Then we went back to town as the weather was getting dicey. We stopped in a coffee shop on the mall and there Dan found Alex and Corey and two cousins and he read a book to them instead of drinking his hot chocolate.

The party in the evening was at the Omni and the food was great, the DJ was ok and everyone had a great time. It is really exciting to have four generations together. Here is a picture of my mother with my sister and her daughter.

Somehow we never did get a shot of the four generation lineup from my mother to me to Dan to Josh.

Sunday morning found Corey with a stomach bug, the weather deteriorating and people ready to get back home. Some left early to try to get ahead of the weather, others waited, counting on good fortune to make their connections. Over brunch in the hotel lobby, we said our goodbyes and eventually, leaving a few who were delayed to await their flights, we departed for the house. The first thing I did upon arriving there was check the propane level. Although it had showed ¼ of a tank on Saturday afternoon, now it read Empty. We decided we had no choice but to depart at once rather than wait another day. We said our farewells and beat it out of there to a Flying J almost to Tennessee along I 81. It was a good thing we left. By nightfall everyone in the house except for Josh had the stomach bug, he had had it the week before. We thought we were clear, but Carol came down with it the next day.

More about the next days in another piece.