Would it be so bad to miss this? Shulamis Greenman had plenty of friends; this was probably one of those events where she’d invited me out of politeness
People take family for granted.
That’s the first thing I learned when I began planning our first major simchah in the family — my son’s bar mitzvah.
Heshy’s our only son, among five girls, and I was going all out — the next simchah in the family would probably be my daughter Chani’s chasunah, and she was only 16. I reserved the nicest hall in town, booked a well-known orchestra, and splurged on a new sheitel for myself. Yes, it was expensive, but baruch Hashem, Nachum’s business was doing well, and what was money for anyway if not to use for occasions like this?
When we got to the invitation lists, though, my excitement tapered off.
“My parents are going to come, of course, and your mother,” I told my husband, frowning over the lists. “But so far, none of our siblings has confirmed that they’ll make it.”
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