Popsicles

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“M y three-year-old just ran into a door. She now has a very swollen lip and bruised gum. Anyone have any kind of frozen popsicle for us so we can try to contain the swelling?”

This was the text of the desperate e-mail I sent to my local Neshei one hour before an early winter Shabbos. Thankfully all my last-minute preparations for Shabbos were done but that didn’t help the fact that the neighborhood stores were all closed and we had nothing in our freezer to help stop the bleeding and swelling.

The timing of this mini-emergency couldn’t have been worse. I was feeling particularly vulnerable that week since my parents who’d come from abroad for a short once-a-year visit had left just a few days earlier. It had been a difficult few months for me so it was particularly nice to have my parents around spoiling me with attention emotional support even some extras. Their departure left me crying and — even more embarrassingly — begging them like a young child to stay just a bit longer. My parents were surprised at my display of emotion.

“Sari you’ve never once cried over the last ten years when we leave. What’s going on?” my mother asked me with concern.