March 21st, '03
Suiting Up

At times like these, it's important to keep writing letters home to my family and friends in America. Here's a recent example.

Hi, everybody.

Thank you for getting in touch and expressing support. We are all fine, and things are going on pretty much as normal. So far the only war casualty has been my diet...there's a lot of tension in the air, and a LOT of leftover Purim goodies in the house, so I've found a way to lessen both...:-)

Buddy has been assuming that the moment the war started he would get called up, but so far, they're leaving him out of the stand-by team they've set up in the Jerusalem area (we do have neighbor in the same unit who has been called up, and they will probably be switching off at some point). At this point, I think Buddy will still be home for Shabbat, which will be a blessing.

Last night Israelis were told to open their gas mask boxes, and carry their masks with them at all times. This is a huge judgement call for the State of Israel. Of course, it rachets up the fear factor a bit, but it's not just that. By giving the order to open the kits, the government is also committing itself to replacing every one of them after the war, at tremendous expense. And of course our economy's in the doghouse.

As of last night, there had been an announcement that school would be in session as usual today, but like every other parent, I checked the morning news to be sure. The schools are officially open, but many people have chosen to keep their kids home from school.

As for me, I decided to send the kids, together with their masks. It was then I realized I didn't handle this according to Emily Post's rules of childhood gasmask preparation... there were complaints, there were problems. Sam insisted on calling his teacher at home and asking if he really had to take his mask (Yes, you do, she said). Leora, quite logically, complained that she wasn't going to take it if she didn't know how to put it on. Although all the kids had seen demonstrations of the masks in school (it seemed gruesome at the time, but now I'm grateful that I didn't have to be the one to introduce the subject), it's not the same as getting the things on yourself.

The problem is, Leora's mask is this over-the-head hood with a blower that takes a PhD to put together for the first time, even if you don't have a two-year-old whining at you at the same time. Oy. I'm still not completely convinced I know how to do it, and now feel dumb for not doing a "drill" with my kids last night, without getting-off-to-school time pressure.

Like I said, Emily Post should put that in so we all know what to do during the next war.

I called Gilad's (private) daycare to see if the ganent was planning to accept kids that day (she was). So I packed him off as well, somewhat guiltily, because Buddy had reported that he had had diarrhea yesterday. If I were a truly *responsible* parent I would have kept him home (sez Emily Post), but if I didn't get to my exercise class and bop away some of my tension, those kids would have to worry about a much more serious threat than Saddam Hussein.

So far no one's called, so hopefully it's alright.

That's about it. I'm going to try to get some work done. It's a little difficult to concentrate under the circumstances, but if the going gets rough, there's lots of chocolate in the house!

Love to you all,

Sandy

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