Transitions

S

easonal transitions bring different stresses and different rewards. I’m all for transitioning from heavy winter sweaters, coats, and boots to the warmer temperatures and longer days of the spring. And then to summer: hotter days, lighter schedules, more city parking, and perhaps a change of scenery.

But life abounds with bigger transitions than a change in weather. We go from school to seminary or beis medrash. If all goes according to plan and the One Above sends our bashert, we transition to the years of building home and family. Those parenting years feel as though they’ll continue forever, until the coming of Mashiach.

If we’re fortunate, as we build our families we live among neighbors who become friends, attending the same shuls, schools, or shopping venues. There are shared milestones as families grow and new babies are born. There’s bonding on street corners while waiting for bus pickups and drop-offs, or shared carpool for early-morning minyan.

Husbands and fathers meander up the block together after the Friday night Kabbalas Shabbos, while post-Minchah on Shabbos afternoon, knots of the block’s male population discuss the rav’s shiur or the daily daf. Even if enrolled in different yeshivos or schools, your teens may bond with a backyard basketball game. It’s a present that seems eternal.