The end of September was a bit of a whirlwind. The Jewish high holy days always land around that time, I have my birthday, and at work we’re winding down from the busiest time of the year (especially true this year!).
When we got back from Philadelphia, we immediately paused to observe Rosh Hashanah. We’re still not going to the synagogue for services, but the synagogue we’re still members of in San Francisco still had a virtual option this year available via YouTube. So we enjoyed services the evening before, and before services in the morning Aaron and I spent a little time at the nearby Japanese gardens before returning home for morning services.
That evening we all sat down and enjoyed some honey and apples!
Yom Kippur was similarly observed, but without the food since it’s a fasting holiday. The notable thing we did for Yom Kippur was taking the boys to Dublin on BART to have a nice pre-fast meal before sunset. It’s something we should repeat, as the boys really enjoyed the whole evening and Adam has since asked to go to dinner on the train multiple times.
The Jewish holiday that lands after Yom Kippur is Sukkot. It’s not one I’ve ever paid much attention to, but we decided it was a nice opportunity to visit a local-ish synagogue that was building a sukkah. The boys definitely enjoyed that too. Hopefully next year we’ll be able to properly observe it with a meal in the sukkah and more time with the community, but this was a nice introduction for the boys and me.
In the middle of all this was my 41st birthday. The day before I got my annual flu shot and was grateful for no ill effects. So that morning I did a run/walk of a 5K in the morning, which concluded with a ridiculously decadent pile of birthday pancakes.
We celebrated with the boys when they got up from their nap. To everyone’s delight, there was cake!
That evening, MJ and I spent the rare evening out by walking over to OCULTO, which opened during the pandemic but we had avoided until we eased up on our indoor dining restrictions for special occasions. It was a great dinner, and though the limited menu means we probably won’t go there too often, it’s nice to know that there’s a nice place we can go within walking distance of home.
We’re aiming to get our bivalent COVID vaccine booster in the coming weeks, something that we delayed due to our household finally succumbing to COVID in July. Still, we have loosened our restrictions somewhat and I’ve started visiting with friends again. My friend Jose was visiting from Peru a couple weeks ago and we met for lunch. He was one of the last people I saw before the pandemic lockdown because we both attended the Southern California Linux Expo in March of 2020. This past Friday I met up with my friend and fellow Partimus board member Grant, who I also hadn’t seen in over two years. We recently lost a former board member and Partimus volunteer, so the visit was tinged with shared loss, but it was still wonderful to catch-up. I hope to continue this in the coming weeks, I really have missed everyone.