A Diversion for the Time Being

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I'm having a bit of a harried time this week, preparing Mishloach Manot packages for many little people, aka my children's friends; sending out donation cards in lieu of Mishloach Manot to most big people; getting children's costumes together; trying to work on a freelance job/manuscript that I have to copy edit; being conscious of the fact that I have another writing project to deal with, a personal writing assignment that also has a deadline; getting excited about some personal traveling plans; and with all that, trying to compose a dvar Torah for week's end.

In all honesty, I get flustered rather easily; this week is one of those weeks! I am a multi-tasker, but it ain't always so easy -- I lose what minimal organizational/time management skills that I still possess, and it's difficult for me to focus on several things at once...although I do it, and the end result is usually fine.

I have gathered several pages of resource notes for my upcoming vort, just have to ORGANIZE them now into some coherent line of thought. So momentarily I am putting that aside, and am reaching for my computer keyboard and my blog instead.

So what did I want to say? Hmmm.... Purim will be here tomorrow evening, so a Freiliche Purim to all -- drink, be merry and try to maintain that festive mood...at least all the way through to after Pesach, after the cleaning, shopping, cooking and eating has been completed; after the in-laws/out-laws have gone home after the seders and Yom Tov is over. Then you can let loose that heavy sigh that you've been holding in since...whenever!

I'm not big on Yom Tov preparations -- read: I don't enjoy them too much -- but I do enjoy the ambience, the je ne sais quoi that floats in the air pre-Yom Tov. I call it a Yom Tov fever: people scurrying about, rushing home with groceries, dry cleaning in the other hand. Main thoroughfares in Jewish neighborhoods are congested with foot traffic and car traffic as people hustle to meet the needs of the two-or-more-day holiday. I feel caught up in that fever, whether I'm sitting in a car and watching the scenes around me, or whether I'm out there, hustling and bustling with the best of them.

This Friday should be fun, driving to and from shul, and later on to and from a seudah at some friends. Car horns will be honking hysterically, costumes and masks will be seen out of car windows, the drivers disguised as they maneuver their vehicles in traffic. A fever once again, and after that, the fever of getting home in time to prepare for Shabbos. Wow, a constant fever -- but a good one. Hope you all get caught up in the fever, as well.

Now, a l'havdil... I read online today about a tragedy that befell a Teaneck, NJ, family yesterday; a house fire took the lives of four children, and their mother is in critical care in hospital. Two other children at home survived, and another one traveled home from Israel to be with her surviving family members. I understand that the father is not in the picture. What a sad, sad happening...on the threshhold of what is to be a festive holiday. We should all pray for a refuah shlema for the woman (you can no doubt Google her and her surviving children's names)and the remaining children, and pray for the lives that were lived -- and were lost -- much too soon.