Like the new look? The old white type on black background was doing a number on my old eyes, so there ya go.
It's a soggy, droopy drip of a sunday here in B'ham. I'm sewing a McGonagall costume to wear for my second son's Harry Potter birthday party next weekend. It ain't half bad. Next I must transfigure my spouse into Snape. It's a bit of a stretch, but I think we can pull it off.
I'm also baking a peach pie to fool my stepdad into thinking I've cooked him a great meal this evening, when it will really be leftover ham made into simple pasta carbonara with garlicky lacinato kale and some glazed carrots.
I comfort myself with all this domesticity. I went to a Bat Mitzvah yesterday. It was the first time I ever set foot in a synagogue, and it was lovely. The synagogue itself was simple, small, lovingly and sensitively cared for. I already knew a large percentage of its members. Somehow all my friends and neighbors in Bellingham seem to be Jewish. It all kind of made me wish I was. Maybe it wouldn't matter that I've lost the ability to believe in the old patriarch if I could still go through the rituals of caring and participating in the passages of life and community. The Bat Mitzvah was a perfect ritual to honor a young woman. She had the opportunity to teach a lesson from a bit of Torah reading that was assigned to her. She chose to interpret the lavish promises and dire warnings of Moses at the side of the Jordan as warnings to us not to trash our world. Hers was a strident environmentalist message, similar to the one I'm often guilty of assaulting people with. She was heard and rewarded with praise for her thoughts and beliefs and wisdom, though she is only 13. What a profound honor for her. It was sincere and loving and very inspiring. It made me wonder what sort of coming of age ritual my kids might have with their non-believer parents. I formulated the ingredients in my ideal coming of age ritual: a course of study or physical trial to develop a sense of accomplishment, a mentor, a community service project, a ceremony, and a celebration. All of these were parts of the event I witnessed yesterday. I suppose a secular version wouldn't be hard to create, but what community would gather to support this offspring of atheists? I guess the Unitarian Universalists are always game.
It's all so much harder when you can't just work from a template. Why bother? Because the self-confidence, determination, and support that young lady earned yesterday will carry her far in this world, with or without the vengeful deity dude.