Being Grateful

It's taken me quite a long time to write something with substance, which is why I haven't blogged in a while. I would start writing something and then erase it because it wasn't worthy of your eyes. Since it's November and the season of gratitude, I want to tell you what I'm up to and why I'm grateful for it.

Last month, I ended my working partnership with a life coach I worked with. It was a mutual decision. I was burnt out and her business was going in a new direction. For the first time in a LOOOONG time, I felt free. Until I remembered that I'm still a grad student. For the most part, my studies haven't been difficult - until the last few weeks of study.

One of my classes teaches about Jewish resistance in the Holocaust. For the last few weeks, we've learned about children in the ghetto. This week, I handed in a paper about support, education, and rescue of children in the ghettos. For those of you unfamiliar with Holocaust history, there were a lot of ghettos and each ghetto had its own set of rules. The hardest part for me: remembering that I had a great uncle who may have been around 11 years old in the ghetto. He was in the Demblin ghetto in Poland along with my grandfather and their parents. In May 1942, he was deported to Sobibor along with my great-grandparents. My great-grandfather had typhus so he was likely shot upon arrival. My great-grandmother went to the gas chamber immediately. My great uncle, at the age of 11, was separated from his parents and went with the healthy men and boys to another gas chamber and was murdered immediately.

Sobibor was a death camp.

In an instant, my grandfather was an orphan with no siblings. On that fateful May day, the liquidation of the Demblin ghetto began.

You're probably thinking "Hillary, how the hell could you be thankful for this???" I'll tell you: it makes me hug my son harder; kiss my husband longer; and be appreciative for everything I have because there was a time when my grandparents had NOTHING.

When I moved back to America from Israel, we sold everything. We came with virtually nothing - we started all over again. My grandmother asked me if I missed our stuff and I said no. I don't miss it. It's just stuff. They are material items. What I came home to is more valuable than what I left.

So, that's where I'm at right now. My husband is gainfully employed. My son is thriving (just look at that punim!!). I will soon have the initials, MA, after my name. Life is good great.