SATISFACTION

SATISFACTION

I've been settling back into life in Colorado after a fantastic two week visit to Israel.  The main purpose of the trip was to watch my baby brother, who moved there 4 years ago to join the Israeli army, get married.  Based from an apartment in Rehavia, we enjoyed a couple of days of wandering around old and new Jerusalem and a perfect day trip to Masada and Ein Gedi.  An emotional evening in Yad Binyamin and a lovely shabbat in Jerusalem connected my family with that of my new Dutch-born now Israeli sister-in-law.

Next, it was off to my favorite beach in the world, the stunning Herzliyah Pituach.  A day trip up North, highlighted by stops to buy a funky piece of pop art in Tzfat and enjoy dinner in the fabulous Zichron Yaakov, and then back to the beach.  A final day in Jerusalem, taking in all the sights and sounds and having one last delicious tasting meal.  Two long, but ohdeargodthankyou uneventful flights back home.  And now, as the saying goes, its back to reality.

A really nice reality.

I am fast approaching the one year anniversary of living in Denver, Colorado.  Spending two weeks 7,000 miles away in the country where I for so long dreamed of settling provided an excellent opportunity to reflect on the life Larry and I are creating for ourselves and our family here.  We simply couldn't love Colorado more.  The people, the weather, the community, the beauty, the endless number of things to do.  We marvel at the fact that we could spend every weekend for the rest of our lives in a different national or state park, trying a new outdoor adventure, or simply enjoying Denver's museums and restaurants and we wouldn't be able to do it all.  Thats just in Colorado!  We're planning our first road trip to Sante Fe, NM, a five hour drive away, for the fall.  I am proud of our insight and foresight, empowered by our audacity, and very very grateful for our unbelievable luck.

In seemingly unrelated news, the Rolling Stones are celebrating 50 years of being on stage together!  Fifty years.  My favorite Stones quote, in fact, the quote that appears next to my picture on the senior page in my high school year book is - "You can't always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need."

Well damn if that's not totally true.

For a lot of years, I talked about moving to Israel. I love it there.  Again - the people, the weather (really, I like extreme heat) the culture, the outdoor adventure.  And, of course, the history.  Nowhere else compares.  Of course.  But.  Israel isn't what happened for me.  I went back to the University of Maryland after spending a year at Hebrew University instead of finishing my degree in Jerusalem.  After college, I visited Israel, volunteered for the army, played around, but then went back to the states to go to law school.  After law school, I looked into doing an intensive Ulpan and taking the Israeli bar, but I thought it would be easier to move to Manhattan and work at Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle.  Ha!

Etc. etc.  Blah, blah, blah.

Life happened to me.  A really good life.

And along the way, I kept working at getting what I wanted.  I keep working at getting what I want.  Every day.

And I've got exactly what I need.  (ignore that old guy on the cell phone please.  He's got nothing to do with my life.)

See, I told you the Stones' anniversary and my trip to Israel were related.

Enjoy ...

Love, Evelyn