I recently finished my Master's Degree. I have been working pretty hard on my degree for the past three years, while at the same time holding down a full-time job. Upon graduation, I didn't really expect to celebrate too much - my family lives far away and I didn't really see the point of throwing myself a party; I was just happy to be done.
Well, my friends and co-workers decided otherwise. Five cakes and several gift cards later, I am so touched by the kindness of my friends who went out of their way to celebrate my achievement. They decided that my graduation was worth celebrating, and celebrate they did. I feel very lucky to have friends who share my success with me.
By: Shoshana |
Monday, June 02, 2008 at 6/02/2008 08:22:00 AM | | 
I took a few great stories of kindness and went a different way with them, but
the stories are worth checking out.
By: Ezzie |
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 3/26/2008 01:03:00 PM | |
Ohio got some snow this weekend, LOL. It made national news!
It started Friday morning and started to let up Shabbos afternoon. I ventured out Sunday afternoon, expecting the main streets to be plowed but knowing the side streets wouldn't have been touched.
I don't know why I was surprised when, on my way home, I turned from the main steet to our side street, and came grinding to a halt in a pile of snow in the middle of the unplowed side steet.
After trying a few times to go forward/backward, I was about to call DH on my cell when two men, in two different cars, parked nearby and worked together to push me out and on my way!
Labels: Pushed out of a pile of snow
By: Chana |
Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 3/11/2008 06:09:00 PM | |
Since a trip to Alabama to see my family recently, I have been a bit down on the NY area. People are not as nice, everyone is in a rush, it's just too much for me. Combine that with a lot of stress from all my responsibilities, and I've just been kinda overwhelmed.
Tonight, I got a call from a friend to invite me for Shabbos because she hasn't seen me in a few weeks. Even though it's only Monday, I already have plans. We had a nice conversation about her children's Purim costumes and we made plans to see each other during the week.
Then I got a call from another friend. He and his wife have an extra ticket to see a comic and they wanted to see if I wanted to come. Sure!
Then I got an email from one of the people I am actually going to for Shabbos this week. She told me that she's not quite sure what it is, but her children ask for me to visit every single week.
All this combined with being invited for Shabbos meals all the time, and having been invited to at least four Purim seudahs, and having a friend offer to stay home for the first days of Pesach and make seders for me when I told her that I am probably staying home. It feels really good to know that people are thinking about me.
By: Shoshana |
Monday, March 10, 2008 at 3/10/2008 10:21:00 PM | |
My mom is a first grade teacher and last week there were Parent-Teacher conferences. It turned out that the evening was very cold but everyone managed to make it out to the school. The next day, one of my mom's students brought her a card. The parents had written, "Thanks for coming out in the cold for the conferences. We really appreciate all that you do for our daughter. Here is something to warm you up." And they had included a $5 Starbucks gift card. How sweet?!?
(And since my mom doesn't drink coffee she gave it to me :) But she kept the note)
By: SaraK |
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 2/19/2008 10:50:00 AM | |
Today I was passing a coworker's desk on my way to somewhere else in the office, and she quietly stopped me and said, "You know, Scraps, you have a run in the back of your tights." (I was wearing black tights, this being the season for them, so it was quite noticeable.) This in and of itself would have been a nice thing to do, because I for sure never would have noticed it myself (how often do I look at the back of my legs?) and I would have walked around all day with a run in my tights and looked rather foolish. At lunchtime I could have gone out and bought myself a new pair.
However, she didn't stop there. She reached into her desk drawer and pulled out a brand-new pair of nice black tights and offered them to me on the spot. She didn't even ask me to pay her for them, although I did offer and she accepted. She said she usually tries to keep an extra pair or two around, just in case she or someone else needs them.
I thought that was really nice of her, so I wanted to share. :)
By: Scraps |
Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at 1/30/2008 11:49:00 AM | |
Passaic has really mean rules. They like to tow people's cars at the drop of a hat. Like, if you park on the wrong side of the street on street-cleaning day (and um, I am totally not impressed with the supposed cleaning that is involved), then they tow your car. Not a ticket, but tow. And because they are so mean, they make it incredibly complicated to get your car out. First, you have to go to the towing lot and get your registration and insurance from your car, then you have to go to the police station several miles away to get a notice saying that they release your car, then you have to go back the several miles to the towing lot to pay money to actually get your car. And all this must be done without your car, since it's been towed.
Today, I accidentally parked my car on the wrong side of the street. Oops. I just totally forgot what day it was and didn't even think about it. At 10:00 AM, I get an email from Princess D (who gets a big SSY for tipping me off) that she thinks I've parked my car on the wrong side. I know that my car will be towed if I don't move it by 10:30. I wrack my brain, trying to decide if I will be able to make it back to Passaic in time by bus, which I know isn't really feasible.
I have a couple co-workers who drive to work. One of them happened to actually be in the office at 10 AM this morning. I went to her and asked her if she would consider letting me borrow her car. I explain the situation to her and she offers to take me herself. We hustle on over to the lot where she parks her car. And we're off! She drives me back to Passaic, where we arrive at almost exactly 10:30, where my car is beautifully still sitting in its place. I move my car to the other side of the street, and we drive back to my office.
It was a HUGE act of kindness - my co-worker saved me a major headache and a lot of money as well. Thanks co-worker!
By: Shoshana |
Wednesday, January 16, 2008 at 1/16/2008 11:27:00 AM | |
A couple of nice stories...
Story #1: My co-worker, who is not religious, came over to tell me about the small 'nes' (miracle) that happened to him last night (his words). He realized he didn't have any candles to light for Chanukah, so he planned on going to the Judaica store nearby after work. Unfortunately, work didn't end until 8pm for him - so he was going to try and get some then, though he didn't know where. But then he was invited out by his manager to drinks on 43rd St., and couldn't really pass it up - but by the time he came out, it was already close to 10:00. Where could he find candles at such a late hour?
He usually walks across 45th Street to get to his apartment on the East Side, but since the bar was on 43rd, he decided to walk across 42nd Street instead. As he was walking, he reached the corner of 42nd and 5th Avenue - and lo and behold, what does he see? A 15-16 year old Chabad kid giving out candles for people to light! He offers to pay a couple dollars and is refused - "They're all to be given out" - and takes home his candles and happily lights his menorah.
Story #2: This morning, as I got off the bus to get onto the subway, there was a woman trying to take a baby (in a snap-and-go) down the steps... and walk her child who was probably about 3 years old down, as well. She noticed the crowds coming off the buses behind her, and wanted to hurry down the steps, and tried encouraging the 3-year old to walk down on her own - but the girl wanted to hold her hand. So she tried to walk her down quickly, but the child was taking her time, holding the railing with her other hand and counting "1! 2! 3! ..." as she walked down the steps. The mother said to her, "C'mon, hurry..." and walked a couple of steps further down to encourage the girl to do so, but a lady right behind me called out to the mother, "Don't rush her! She's counting!" I thought this was really nice.
The mother still felt bad about the crowd, though, and tried again saying to the girl, "C'mon, honey, hurry - people are trying to get to work." Again the lady called out, "It's okay!" It was nice to see so many people patiently waiting, smiling, as the little girl continued her way down the steps.
By: Ezzie |
Wednesday, December 05, 2007 at 12/05/2007 02:22:00 PM | |
The past while has been a bit rough for me. For us. I've been feeling for a few weeks that I really need a break - time to just freeze, to stop, anything to let me take a break from everything that's swirling and to just sit. To think. To write. To relax. To take care of all the stuff that's overwhelming me. To talk to some friends I've really wanted to talk to for a while. To plan a bunch of things that need planning. To just... I don't really know. Just a break.
A lot of this kind of culminated on Thursday and Friday a couple weeks ago, as some - if not many - of you know. In truth, none of it was a big deal, but at the time, it sure felt like it. We enjoy having lots of guests here at
SerandEz, and this Shabbos was to be no exception. We had three
wonderful young women staying here for Shabbos, two couples with their cute kids Friday night, and
a number of other guests Shabbos day
[even one without a blog!]. But by the time we got all our groceries Thursday evening, planned our menus, and got ready to start cooking, it was rather late. Serach ran out to get a few things we'd forgotten, and as I checked on the food in the oven, I noticed that the broccoli kugel looked like it hadn't gotten cooked at all. More importantly, there was no heat. My father-in-law was staying the night so he didn't have to drive too much (he has a very long commute in general), so he tried to fix it... but couldn't figure it out. He came to the same conclusions I had [except he knows a lot more], so we were pretty stuck. I decided I'd take off the next day, because we wouldn't be able to make Shabbos without an oven and I really had a few other things to take care of anyway.
The next morning, I dropped Elianna off at the babysitter. As I did so, I noticed that the right side of the car was scraped horribly; the area by the right front tire banged in a bit. This is a car we just leased three months ago... our first car. Upset, I called Serach, who recently got her license, thinking it must have been her; she insisted she hadn't sideswiped anybody, though that's what it looked like (and on the right side, it's hard for it to be anything else). I assumed that she simply still was a bit nervous, sideswiped someone, somehow not realized it... Ugh. What a mess. I went and got a haircut, which I'd needed for a while, and that helped me calm down a bit; around then Serach texted me that she'd been parked on a one-way, and that when she told her co-worker about the car, the co-worker had noted that the same exact thing had happened to her. And they'd been parked next to each other... and on a one-way street. Nice little lesson in
dan l'kaf zchus, particularly about one's wife, eh?
Well, I received my payback rather quickly. As I started to back my car into a driveway across from our apartment, being that it's a rather thin street, I was worried about nicking a car on my own side of the street with the front of the car. Being annoyed and upset about my own car wasn't helping with concentration. A second later, I felt a huge *SMASH* as I nailed the back corner of an SUV's bumper right in, denting it badly. (It was parked with the back just next to the driveway. Distraught, and with an Israeli neighbor misunderstanding that I was trying to park so I could see the extent of the damage and leave a note and not drive away, I finally pulled my car into a spot. I'd made a nice dimple on the Murano... ugh. I went upstairs, wrote a note, stuck it in his window, and went out to take care of some more stuff. Thankfully, our cleaning lady showed up and was doing her usual incredible job [cleaning ladies are worthwhile for families where both spouses work, particularly when they have lots of guests!], so I grabbed a bunch of stuff that needed
toveling and took it to the
mikveh nearby. I only lost one small cheap pan in the process; the netting that looks like it catches large objects in fact is two nets, split in two. Ah well.
Meanwhile, my superintendent had previously informed me that he didn't figure out what the problem with the oven was yet, but he had one idea to try. He then disappeared for a couple hours, so I called and gently reminded him that this was pretty important, especially as who knew what could be going on with gas (though it seemed okay). He came back, checked it again, and kindly informed me that this was beyond him, and we likely needed a new starter ignition, but he couldn't do that. Translation: You better find someone else's oven to cook in, quick. This was at about 1:15pm, and I had at least prepared some of the food, but time was quickly becoming scarce.
This is where amazing friends come in... especially when they live nearby. I'd e-mailed RaggedyMom about the possible use of an oven; she'd informed me hers was available... and that another friend a couple of doors down had offered the use of hers as well. As had our non-blogging daytime guest. Meanwhile, Serach was stuck in school due to a suspected gas leak kicking them all out of the building... leaving her bag (and her ride's bag/keys/etc.) inside. When she finally returned, she helped me take over the chickens to the neighbors nearby, then she and our other guests who were arriving helped with everything else - from taking food to neighbors to cleaning up to setting up and then setting the table to taking care of Elianna, whom Serach picked up with a couple of them.
I think that perhaps the most ironic part of it all was as I was making the last few things to be brought to our non-blogging guest (from now on Sabra), Chana remarked "Wow, this is so nice!" I looked at her questioningly and she explained, "It's so calm here today. Normally it's kind of hectic, but this week... you guys are so calm, it's so quiet, not much is going on... it's so nice." Here, I'm thinking it's such a crazy day and week, but to some extent, she was right, too. It
was rather calm (until the final rush to get the food from the neighbors and bring it back without burning ourselves). It
was nice. And Shabbos... Shabbos was amazing.
Good neighbors, wonderful guests - good friends - they are all truly amazing. Thanks, all.
By: Ezzie |
Monday, November 19, 2007 at 11/19/2007 05:13:00 PM | |
I was driving back from Cleveland to Jersey last night. I hit a terrible snarl of traffic just as it was starting to get dark.
The darkness, coupled with the lack of activity started to get to me, and I was feeling pretty drowsy. I tried calling people, but my service was dead in Pennsylvania.
Finally, I got out of the traffic, and pulled into the nearest rest area. I needed caffiene, badly. I run to the machine, hoping for a pepsi when I realize my smallest bill is a twenty. I start asking around, hoping someone has change, but no luck.
A guy approaches me. "Whatsamatter, boy?" he asks me. I ask him if he has change, but he doesn't. "How much yew need?" he asks. I explain that I just need a drink to keep me up. He opens his wallet and pulls out two bills. "Here," he says, "and use the change to get yerself a candy burr, kid."
I start thanking him, telling him that I just need something to pep me up for the rest of the trip, but he stops me with an upraised hand.
"I don't need no reason, boy. I see yew need help, that's enough fer me. Yew just drive safe, y'hear?"
I heard. With the sugar in my bloodstream I was ready to finish the trip...
By: jewmaican20 |
Tuesday, October 23, 2007 at 10/23/2007 05:19:00 AM | |
