I've been fighting off a cold. I have a constant headache. I'd love to crawl in bed and sleep but I can't. Yesterday, I really had to work to reorganize sections of the house and I have work that I didn't get to last week because I was abroad.
So I worked...until I couldn't. And then I quickly ate dinner and went to bed...only to find it was only about 7:00 p.m. (my body would have thought it was 8:00 p.m. because we just changed the clocks here). I keep waking up at 5:30 a.m. (instead of the 6:30 a.m. that is normal).
And then Elie came and explained that he needed to go to the mall and didn't want to leave his 4-year-old daughter alone (obviously) and so I went down to their apartment.
About an hour later, he came home and I went back to bed at a less embarrassing 8:00 p.m. I read, played on my phone and then around 9:00 or so, there was a knock on my bedroom door. I was just getting drowsy but I called out...
...and in walked David!!! I was so surprised to see him. He was supposed to come home on Friday (maybe Thursday) but apparently the army owes them more days of vacation and so they need to use them up. Apparently, one commanding officer was considering canceling their vacation days but when the higher-ups heard that, they absolutely commanded them to give each soldier his due.
And so - David came home - I jumped out of bed, ran to give him a hug and then got scared. I asked him if he was okay. If something had happened.
And so he explained about the extra vacation days. I spent a little bit of time with him and returned...again...to bed.
He's home. He's safe. I can turn my phone off at night. I can sleep.
Yesterday, Israel discovered a tunnel being dug from Gaza into Israel. They are at it again; planning an attack via tunnels...and so we blew up the tunnel and got lucky.
The guys digging it were still inside. And then we got luckier - when the tunnel collapsed, Palestinians went running into the tunnel to see if they could reach the diggers but apparently something else exploded (this time, something - perhaps explosives) and so there was another collapse. All in all, twelve people died in the collapse, including some higher-ups.
Hamas leaders than condemned Israel (the country they don't recognize), made their threats, and accused us of an unprovoked attack...which was provoked by the fact that they were digging a tunnel into our country in order to attack us.
They have promised a response...and depending on that response, we stand, yet again, on the edge of war. No, I don't believe there will be a war (right now), but this is how it starts...every damn time.
For now, we wait to see what they will do...there will, most likely, be rockets fired. And so Israel is on high alert, more Iron Dome anti-missile systems have been set up in various places, ready to intercept any incoming missiles.
Ready. Hoping for peace. It's where we've been for 70 years...and where we are likely to be for the next 700.
And yet...he's home. He's sleeping in his own bed. My heart is full; my home is full. I'm leaving for the store in a few minutes to buy his favorite things and I'll pray the army doesn't call him back in.
Israel. This is our life here - too often on the brink because we did the only logical thing a country can do. Yesterday, in a provoked attack, we defended ourselves.
It is the only place in the world where actions such as this could be deemed anything but what it was...and the only place in the world that would be condemned for taking out the threat.
But, the sun is shining. I'm sitting at my dining room table with sunlight and a cool breeze wafting in. A little bird came to sit on my window...fluttered around the flowers growing there (okay, there are only two flowers...but wait, soon there will be more) and then flew away.
And David is home.
So I worked...until I couldn't. And then I quickly ate dinner and went to bed...only to find it was only about 7:00 p.m. (my body would have thought it was 8:00 p.m. because we just changed the clocks here). I keep waking up at 5:30 a.m. (instead of the 6:30 a.m. that is normal).
And then Elie came and explained that he needed to go to the mall and didn't want to leave his 4-year-old daughter alone (obviously) and so I went down to their apartment.
About an hour later, he came home and I went back to bed at a less embarrassing 8:00 p.m. I read, played on my phone and then around 9:00 or so, there was a knock on my bedroom door. I was just getting drowsy but I called out...
...and in walked David!!! I was so surprised to see him. He was supposed to come home on Friday (maybe Thursday) but apparently the army owes them more days of vacation and so they need to use them up. Apparently, one commanding officer was considering canceling their vacation days but when the higher-ups heard that, they absolutely commanded them to give each soldier his due.And so - David came home - I jumped out of bed, ran to give him a hug and then got scared. I asked him if he was okay. If something had happened.
And so he explained about the extra vacation days. I spent a little bit of time with him and returned...again...to bed.
He's home. He's safe. I can turn my phone off at night. I can sleep.
Yesterday, Israel discovered a tunnel being dug from Gaza into Israel. They are at it again; planning an attack via tunnels...and so we blew up the tunnel and got lucky.
The guys digging it were still inside. And then we got luckier - when the tunnel collapsed, Palestinians went running into the tunnel to see if they could reach the diggers but apparently something else exploded (this time, something - perhaps explosives) and so there was another collapse. All in all, twelve people died in the collapse, including some higher-ups.
Hamas leaders than condemned Israel (the country they don't recognize), made their threats, and accused us of an unprovoked attack...which was provoked by the fact that they were digging a tunnel into our country in order to attack us.
They have promised a response...and depending on that response, we stand, yet again, on the edge of war. No, I don't believe there will be a war (right now), but this is how it starts...every damn time.
For now, we wait to see what they will do...there will, most likely, be rockets fired. And so Israel is on high alert, more Iron Dome anti-missile systems have been set up in various places, ready to intercept any incoming missiles.
Ready. Hoping for peace. It's where we've been for 70 years...and where we are likely to be for the next 700.
And yet...he's home. He's sleeping in his own bed. My heart is full; my home is full. I'm leaving for the store in a few minutes to buy his favorite things and I'll pray the army doesn't call him back in.
Israel. This is our life here - too often on the brink because we did the only logical thing a country can do. Yesterday, in a provoked attack, we defended ourselves.
It is the only place in the world where actions such as this could be deemed anything but what it was...and the only place in the world that would be condemned for taking out the threat.
But, the sun is shining. I'm sitting at my dining room table with sunlight and a cool breeze wafting in. A little bird came to sit on my window...fluttered around the flowers growing there (okay, there are only two flowers...but wait, soon there will be more) and then flew away.
And David is home.
- Israel is at the very tail end of his very long way -
ReplyDeletePaula, you wrote:
"Hoping for peace. It's where we've been for 70 years ... and where we are likely to be for the next 700."
Paula, I think, I hope, I trust:
1948 ... the beginning of the end of suffering for Israel.
It will not take that long anymore and Israel will live secure in peace ... forever.
How beautiful are the words of Yemima Bakol (http://israelblogger.com/topic-categories/israel/real-x-factor-israel/):
"Today we’re amidst this Clarification of Sparks to determine who’s on the side of the Erev Rav and who is on that of Am Yisrael. Actually, we’re at the very tail end of this very long process, and this is what’s behind, the reason for, all that is happening around us."
and
"But when that ring of fire goes up, the game will be over."
:) :)