Just in Time

I hang up and consider crying again but realize there’s no time for that. I call a fleishig takeout store and ask them to send over everything they’d made fresh that day. Next, I look around at my dining room which had hosted a shalom zachar 48 hours before and looked, well, like it had hosted a shalom zachar.

Somehow I manage to get the house looking presentable, the table set, and to apply some much- needed makeup to my pale face. At 3:50 p.m. I look at the clock and realize the older kids are still in school and need to be picked up.

I don’t remember to whom I owe the thanks for picking them up, but they somehow get home and even into Shabbos clothing by 4:15. This is despite the fact that my son came home from school running a fever, and that we forgot to buy rolls or bread to wash on and need to run to the makolet to buy simple lachmaniot.

It’s a beautiful simchah. People keep on coming until late at night to wish us mazel tov and take home some of the leftover schnitzel and chicken sitting on my counter in a huge pile. (Note: Never tell a takeout store to send everything they have, you might get stuck with leftovers until the baby’s bar mitzvah).