Thursday, September 15, 2005
I used to be a Deadhead. What can I say, they're awesome. I know a lot of frum people who used to be into The Dead too, there's a bunch of us. Anyway, I don't listen to them so much anymore. One reason is I'm always in the car with my kids, and that's not appropriate for them. Another reason is because
- spiritually - it's not appropriate for me, either! But it's okay every now and again. So this morning I'm driving to the post office by myself, and I turned on May 8th '77 (a VERY hot show, as any Deadhead can attest). Anyway, I'm listening to Bobby and Donna singing "Dancin' in the Streets," and they get to the line, "Well, they're dancing in Chicaaaaagoooo...down in New Orleans." I got very startled. There's no dancing in New Orleans right now, I thought, people are drowning there. Then I felt very weird and sad.
So I'm at the post office to mail a letter to my insurance company. It's all about a bill they didn't cover - bureaucratic garbage we all have to deal with. I'm reading the sign on the wall about different ways a letter can be sent. All variations on a theme, basically. Delivery confirmation, signature confirmation, certified mail, registered mail, return receipt requested, yada yada. This was turning into another LL Bean moment - I couldn't figure out which way to go! Finally, I decided to just stick a stamp on it and let G-d deal with it. If Hashem wants the bill to get paid, He'll pay it for us. Then I went out to the car and tried to open it from my keychain thingy. I'm standing next to the car pressing the unlock button, thinking, "Jeez, this needs new batteries more than I thought." Then I realized it wasn't my car.
On to the grocery store, where my tired brain is trying to figure out what food we need for shabbos and next week (please G-d help me, gas is so expensive - I don't want to make another trip here). So I'm schlepping up and down the aisles, and I see a lady with matzo meal in her cart. I said "Excuse me, are you Jewish?" and she said "No, why do you ask?" I felt really awkward. "Because I was going to encourage you to light sabbath candles." "Well, lots of my friends are Jewish, and they do. Friday night, right?" "Right." We smiled and continued our shopping.
When I got back to my car, next to me was a car with a beat-up "Steal Your Face" sticker on the back. I smiled and looked into the car to see if there was a cd player, so I could leave a cd for the Deadhead parked next to me. So this mommy and kid show up, and I said "Is this your car?" and she said "Yeah, I was wondering if I left something in it, because I saw you looking inside." I laughed and told her I was going to leave a Dead show. "Oh, my husband Tom would love that. He's the one who likes them." So I rummaged around my car and found a Phil show for Tom.
I'm tired. I went to bed late last night, and I put out a lot of energy today. I hope I added a little light to the world.
Love, Maven @ 
2 Comments:
At 5:41 PM,
Anonymous said…
I don't know you personally, but I love your site, and I love the fact that you stopped the lady at the grocery store...I think since Katrina, everyone I know is looking for Mitzvos to do (plus the whole Elul thing...) You did spread light throughout the day, and you should rest assured that it is one step closer. Have a good one.
At 10:31 AM,
Anonymous said…
You just spread some light in the world simply by writing that post. It completely made my day! Sometimes when I'm tired I get this whole selfish thing, like I can't do anything nice for anyone, I'm too tired. You just reminded me to ditch that attitude and spread some light tired or not!
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