Never Say Goodbye

I, on the other hand, was a tomboy busy with hockey and softball and homework. In whispered conversations with classmates we pondered the Abominable Snowman, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Bermuda Triangle.

G-d was not excluded from these philosophical discussions. “Do you believe in G-d?” we asked one another. I was a secular Jewish kid in a class of mostly non-Jewish kids, all of us trying to make sense of the world.

I admitted to the others that I was scared of the Loch Ness Monster and terrified to go near the Bermuda Triangle. But what I didn’t share with anyone was that I did believe in G-d. I couldn’t see Him or feel Him, but I sensed His presence. Everywhere. All the time.

Every night, I’d lie awake in bed, clutching my teddy bear, and I’d talk to G-d. Well, I talked and He listened, but I felt safe.