Update

Hi All,
It's been a week of ups and downs.
Mom and Truffle arrived, and we (Mom and I, not the dogs) ate under the sukkah all week. That was really cool, and Mom enjoyed it. :)

Thursday was Truffle's surgery, and it was a doozy indeed. I was mistaken about what she needed before; the surgery she had is called a TPO, in order to correct her hip dysplasia. They have to correct this during puppyhood, while her bones are still soft, and the damage isn't too advanced yet. So they cut her pelvic bone in 3 places, and installed hardware. She will almost certainly go through the same surgery (on the other hip) in 2 weeks. Yikes.

After the surgery, a resident called with a progress report, and said there was a possibility they would have to re-do the entire surgery the following day, due to complications. OMG. That made for a very difficult evening, especially for Mom. By yesterday morning, the prognosis had improved, and they didn't need to re-do the surgery.

She's now at home and doing quite well, considering all she has been through. She even wagged her tail today. If I were on the massive doses of pain medication she's taking, I'd be wagging my tail, too! (Anyone need pain meds?? We have a ton!! LOL :))

I hope everyone enjoyed Simchas Torah and the final days of Sukkot. As for me, today I had a small luncheon at my home to celebrate. I had Yetta and John over, along with Mom and me. Upon request, I served some of Mom's Jewish favorites from childhood: borscht with sour cream (Breakstones, as she will accept no imitations!), lox and bagels, cheese blintzes with applesauce, honey and more sour cream than you could ever imagine, and for dessert, coffee, apple strudel with ice cream, and marbled halvah.

Health food it was not, but it sure was comfort food! Especially for Mom and Yetta, who were loving the borscht. Hmmm... I loved it all, except that. I wonder what John thought of it all. He saw me at my absolute Jewish best, and Yetta called me a "typical Jewish mother." Yes, people, this is what a product of intermarriage looks like!!!

I don't think John and I will be dating, but he could be a great friend. I think all this stuff was just a little too foreign to him, and I don't feel like holding back who I really am anymore to make men feel more comfortable. I also don't enjoy being with men who don't care about Israel, whether or not they're Jewish. (That's not the case with John, but it has been a frequent problem.)

To answer a question Baleboosteh recently posed, some of the reasons I'm not married (at age 39), are that on one hand, I "seem" more stereotypically Jewish, if there is such a thing. By this I mean that I speak my mind, I'm not a typical meek, sweet Christian girl. This intimidates most Christian men (even pro-Israel Christian men), because being with a strong and opinionated woman who is willing to openly disagree is unfortunately not comfortable for many Christians in romantic relationships.

On the other hand, obviously most Jewish guys, many of whom feel very comfortable with my relating style (see above), would not be good marriage possibilities for me because of important differences in our beliefs (read: Jesus).

The really good news in all this is that at my age, I no longer have a burning desire to get married. If it happens someday, great. If not, that's fine too. It's very liberating to be at this stage (at long last!) I also have a feeling that given my background, personality and faith, there would likely be a lot more (male) possibilities for me in Israel. I am thoroughly looking forward to investigating this when I go there this spring! I'll start dieting tomorrow!! :)

Thanks for tuning in!