The Season of our Rejoicing

Larry and the kids finished putting up our sukkah on Monday.  Last night we decorated.  Sukkot begins tonight.  Historically, Sukkot commemorates the forty-year period during which the children of Israel were wandering in the desert, living in temporary shelters. It also has agricultural significance as a harvest festival; Sukkot is one of the three biblically mandated holidays on which Jews were commanded to make a pilgrimage to the Temple in Israel.  


Sukkot is a happy holiday.  In fact, it is supposed to be so unreservedly joyful that it is commonly referred to in Jewish prayer and literature as Z'man Simchateinu, the Season of our Rejoicing.  

The Becker-Schwartz family is rejoicing indeed.  It has been a very exciting week for us so far because ... we bought a condo in Keystone, CO!  That I haven't seen yet!  Right.  Larry went back up last Sunday, looked at a dozen more places, showed me pictures, and - we're gonna have a place to call home in the Rocky Mountains.
Dream come true.
So excited for the kids.
So proud of Larry.
Hope to see it tomorrow.
Dear Lord, please make it be as clean as he claims.

I should probably be freaking out since there are still unpacked boxes, bare white walls, and a disastrous mess of a yard in the "weekday" house we just bought in Denver.  But this all just feels so right.  Like, home.  Hmm, maybe after our last (split the difference between my 39 & Larry's 41) forty years of wandering through Virginia, Maryland, Pittsburgh, New York, Israel (oy) and Columbus, living in temporary shelters, this is our time to reap the fruits of our labors.  

AT ANY RATE, our first visitors to Denver arrive this afternoon - my parents - and we are very excited to show them around.  I'm thinking the Georgetown Loop Railway for outdoor fun, and otherwise, we're winging it.  Just googled "things to do in Denver with grandparents,"  and check this out!  - http://www.grandparents.com/gp/events/denver.html.  What was life before google?  Also very open & appreciative of suggestions so please write.

We are also getting ready to be the last stop on the Denver Jewish Day School Sukkah Hop this Sunday.  After so many fabulous invitations from this crowd, I am very much looking forward to the opportunity to open our home to our new friends.  Cookie, cupcake & brownie making awaits.

Off to drive around Denver, dropping people off, picking people up.  As I gaze off into the distance at the Rockies (never losing track of the road and cars in front of me of course), I'll be wondering if my little piece of it looks anything like the pictures from realtor.com.  And rejoicing over my unbelievable luck.

Chag Sameach - a happy holiday - to all.