This picture of me hugging Jacob oh so tight showed up in my Facebook memories today. It brought tears to my eyes.
It was taken 2 years ago today while standing outside of Toronto Pearson airport just before he departed on his very first trip to Israel to attend the wedding of his girlfriend’s sister who lives there. He has already been back twice more since then, including this past June.
Both Hannah and Rachel have also experienced their first trips to Israel since that picture was taken as well. I had the very same emotions when they departed too (see pics).
I shared a blog with you a few months back that I’d written and titled “Maybe One Day” while Rachel was in Israel this past Spring. She’d spent close to 2 months there on an organized youth trip for 10 days, followed by an internship program for credit towards her University Degree in Interior Design.
I, myself have never been to Israel. The combination of a crippling fear of flying and an overwhelming anxiety since I was a young child about going to Israel due to everything I’d ever seen on the news or read about Israel, I scratched it off my bucket list years ago.
But having lived vicariously through my children’s travels to Israel over the past 2 years, and especially after seeing the glow in Rachel’s eyes and the huge smiles on her face, like I’d never seen before, with every picture she shared with us during her travels there in the Spring, Israel quickly became a place I wanted to see, maybe one day, too, with my very own eyes and experience firsthand what everyone has tried so hard to help me understand all these years.
I began researching organizations who offer women’s trips to Israel. I was finally ready to feel that indescribable connection to my heritage firsthand, see its beautiful landscape and architecture, learn about its incredible history in real time, its religious importance, fascinating culture and people, delicious food and amazing shopping that I’ve always heard so much about.
With everything going on in Israel right now, you are probably thinking that I’ve once again scratched this goal back off my bucket list, but I haven’t. Now may not be the time, but Israel will be waiting there for me when the time is right and I know in my heart that it will be even stronger and better than ever.
#Israel #Homeland #mentalhealth #mentalwellness #mentalwellness #maybeoneday #bucketlist #shabbatshalom #memories #myreasonswhy #travel #youareenough #fears #anxiety #United #standstrong
YouAreEnough 