What I'm here for

It's that time of year - unbelieveably nine years have passed, and I'm of course thinking about Sylvia Kacal, z"l, my mother in law, whom I knew for too short a time and who will always be with us.

And I'm thinking about connections and about a piece a friend posted on facebook, about unfriending someone before facebook.  Many people found this funny, but I found it sad. 

I feel like the greatest blessing in my life is that I continue to have people from all parts of my life and all kinds of connections with me.  That I can quote something I said 25 years ago in my status and have my friend say "I remember that moment."  I want every day to be worthy of this blessing, so I work to stay in the game when things get difficult with friends, or when I'm going against what is easy to build connections with my Israeli relatives.  When I realized my 3rd cousin was living here in this town, and when my kids' 4th cousin was born here, I felt like G-d was somehow bringing things back together again.

It's my lifetime wish to find out where my Uncle Jack is buried and to be able to go to his grave and say I'm sorry for the break in our family.  And when I connect on facebook with my young cousin Jake or my cousin Andrew who brought us so much information about our family tree, I feel like all my ancestors are smiling on me.  It is such a huge privilege to be part of this world where we can be reconnected and where people don't have to disappear. 

As hard as it may be sometimes to stay in the game - with family, friends and community - I don't want one more disconnect.  I want this whole life to be about connecting the dots, about keeping the strands woven.  I can see the past - quite a few miles back - and I am grateful for this present.

About the verse - Eleh Toldot Shamayim VaAretz - these are the generations of heaven and earth - I said last week that these are the people who are in heaven, who are always with us, and the people who are here on earth.  Let us always be connected.