War
I’ll be honest, I’ve been sitting here for close to two hours struggling over whether to post. I’ve spent what has been nothing short of a glorious weekend with my oldest son who is home for Fall break. Kyle’s a senior in college and the fact that he is here (at the beach) with me, one-on-one, is a gift that I do not take for granted. We have talked and laughed and eaten (he has turned into the most curious foodie which makes my heart swell) and ate dinner and ordered drinks at the bar with Todd (our favorite bartender) and played pickle ball and shopped and watched a comedy special (Shane Gillis: Beautiful Dogs–very funny) and laid around watching football (Go, Travis!). If this is not living the dream, I’m not sure what is.
At the same time, I’ve been obsessively scrolling through posts and combing newsfeeds on the war in Israel. I can’t get one particular image out of my head. I saw it early on, a young woman (roughly my daughter’s age) being yanked by her hair out of the back of a jeep. Blood stained. I’ll leave it there. When I first saw the footage I looked closely at her face, her face which has since been replaced by a gray square as it airs on screens, on repeat. But in my mind, there is no gray square because I have seen what I have seen. I will see her face forever and maybe that’s how it should be. As I type this, tears stream down my cheeks, my hands shake, my heart races and my temperature is rising. I feel like I can’t breath.
War is terrifying. But these are terrorists, terrorizing innocent human beings, many of whom were dancing at an outdoor festival with not a care in the world as teenagers are uniquely able to do. There are grandmothers being carted away. And babies.
I’m sorry, I can’t stop. This is not what you came here for nor what you need from me this morning, but now that I’ve written I think I must share. I can’t attach this to a simple recipe that I’ve prepared with love. It wouldn’t make any sense at all. None of this does. So I will leave this one here and ask anyone who prays to pray for our children.