Shavuot Adventures

Wednesday night, which feels like an awfully long time ago now, was my first night as chaplain-on-duty in the Emergency Room.  It was good work, but I was totally exhausted by the time I got home, and went to bed quite early.  So Thursday morning, I got up early so that I could pack for being away for Shavuot, since I did not have a chance to come home between when I was done at the hospital and heading over to where I was staying and going to shul.  Thursday was the first of our days with regular chaplaincy in the morning and education time in the afternoon, which went pretty well, I think.  Then we closed up shop, as it were, and got set to leave- except that I had a bit of freak out about it, before leaving- I was really missing being with friends for yontif, and being in a community with learning at night, etc.  Added to that was some anxiety since the last time I stayed with strangers for shabbos was at the shul-of-doom, and the whole thing had not been so comfortable.  My peers were wonderful about being reassuring, and we eventually set off.  

A friend from CPE dropped me and my stuff off where I was staying, and I met my hostess, a lovely older woman with a serious thing for keeping her house clean (This was my first impression.  By the end of the holiday, I'd seen their garden, been shown a bunch of family pictures, including those of their 10 grandchildren, heard her sing the songs she'd written for pre-school aged children and the one she'd done for her husband's 50th birthday, suggested a use for left-over asparagus, and been invited back along with jakal88 so that her husband could take him for a walk in the back yard and ask about his intentions...) 

We headed to shul, where I found my supervisor and one of my peers.  The other (the one who'd dropped me off) showed up a bit later with her two daughters (who were quite adorable).  There was a shul dinner before davening, I think purposefully without bread which was good for the not being supposed to have a "real meal" before services thing, but also meant that there was no seudah that night, which felt awkward, for me.  As we were shmoozing, my colleague, who is studying to be a Catholic priest, seemed to blend in quite well- some people seemed to meet him and asume that I was connected with him, rather than there on my own, although that is my own perception, not something I can prove.  He stuck it out through the service (rather left-wing for my tastes, as was all the davening, but at least the congregation was remarkably friendly, which helped my comfort levels a lot), and the "learning" afterwards.  Said learning consisted of 5 congregants talking about a mitzvah that was particularly significant to them, and then a discussion of what mitzvah meant to people in general.  It was an interesting presentation and discussion, but didn't feel like substantial learning to me.  Between the lack of learning and the fact that pretty much all the davening was done with Shabbos nusakh, a lot of the time it felt more like an extended shabbat than like a holiday.  

Staying with these folks was quite nice though- they took good care of me, and reminded me a bit of my grandparents- especially the wife of the couple.  The style of the holiday may not have been what I really wanted, but it was a comfortable time, once I settled in, and even if there were some pushy moments- mostly about how good it is to get married and have children, and how jakal88 sounds like a keeper, I should really marry him- it was good to be taken care of for a couple of days.