Hot Chocolate Day

I want to start off by apologizing to any of my readers if this is your only way of knowing what goes on with me. Last I wrote, I was going to visit my dad in Nashville for a week and a half. The day before I was supposed to leave, I decided to stay two more weeks.

It was very hard to be there.

I won't go into the details of the trip, but saying goodbye to my dad was easily one of the hardest things I've done. I don't know the next time I'll get to see him, but the time I did have with him was really special. I got to spend Thanksgiving and most of Chanukah with him, countless hours of just talking and playing games or watching movies. It was heartwarming to see how many people called to see how he was doing or brought food for Jill and Nathan. I did work some while I was there, and it was good to see my coworkers and boss. I got to see some of my friends, and those that I didn't see, I want to apologize. I tried to keep my trip quiet, and I did my best to see my dad as much as possible.

I stayed with my mom to reduce the amount of foot traffic in my dad's house, and it was really good to see her and my sister. I spent part of Chanukah with them, too, which I really appreciated.

I came back to Petah Tikva on Friday, right before Shabbat. I've mostly been sleeping since then, but Shmuel, Dovi, and Esther's mom is coming in town tomorrow so I have to get on a proper sleeping schedule tonight. I only have a few more weeks until I go to Kibbutz Yagur, and I am very excited, albeit cold. YES, it is cold here. It started raining a few days before I came back and hasn't stopped since. I wear so many layers and spend most of my day cuddled up in my blankets while I do things on my computer or sleep. It's the kind of cold where you don't need gloves but you wear two pairs of socks AND your super comfy and fluffy house slippers. The rainy season just started and I'm ready for it to be over, but I know it will be even worse when I move up north. I am more excited for Pesach to roll around than moving to the kibbutz because I will finally have my holiday in Israel and it will be warm again! Esther and I are nice and cozy in our room and drinking hot chocolate while we hope there are no flash floods (although there probably will be).

Until next time,

Shirit

P.S. Major props to Nathan for driving me back and forth almost every day so I could see our dad.

P.P.S. Vols finished up the season nicely, with a solid win against Kentucky. I will admit that I wasn't particularly interested in that game because the overlapping Auburn-Alabama game was so intense that I could barely focus on anything else. I supported Mizzou in the Iron Bowl against Auburn, but maybe Auburn can pull it off in the BCS National Championship game against FSU. We're looking at a fun month ahead in football. And I'll stay up for some of it.