Not bad for a Monday :)

Lately I have been a bit stressed and overwhelmed but today I am feeling better again. At the moment, I am not worried about anything and I'm not dreading tomorrow. It is a nice change of pace.

The weekend also had its bright spots. On Friday I went to work but that night I went out to dinner for my birthday with my husband and our best friends. We had Ethiopian food and it was really fun. Then they came over for a while. My best friend bought us a new Britta pitcher with a filter. I was pretty stoked on that. She also got me some beautiful earrings. My husband also got me some nice gifts. He got me a cool necklace, an awesome t-shirt and the boots I have been coveting. I had no expectations in regards to gifts or my birthday but I ended up enjoying the attention.

There was more too... I got some great warm up pants and a very sweet card from my mom. My brother brought me a lantern from Laos and an ornamental tobacco pipe. Then, yesterday, to my surprise, we had a family party with several celebrations and one of them honored my birthday so I even got a carrot cake. I know that you're not suppossed to share your wish but I wished that I might continue to find ways to remember all the things that I have and not the things that are not working. Today I remember again so maybe my wish will continue to flower.

My niece had her Bat Mitzvah this weekend. She turns thirteen today. The ceremony was touching and beautiful. I cried at least three times. When I read my section of Torah translation, my little sister and I actually laughed out loud. Jacob had eleven sons. That was somehow funny. My niece did an amazing job with her Hebrew singing and reading. It was obvious how hard she worked. At the end of the whole thing she had to make a presentation about what her Torah passage meant. She chose to write a poem. I thought I could write but... Her interpretation and her poem where almost surreal in their insights. I often see a lot of myself in her. We are certainly different but there is much about the way she thinks about the world and writes that I can really understand. She makes me proud to be her aunt.

I was sick yesterday but today I feel much better. I thought about calling in and didn't. I'm glad I went to work. It was a pretty good day and going in, despite adversity, made me feel good about myself.