The Tournament, Part 3

I bet you are wondering why I brought my oldest and my youngest children to a Judo tournament.

Well, that is because we were going to be flying that evening to England to fly the following morning to Ireland to surprise my mom for her birthday.

At that point in my life, I did not have a car and there was not going to be enough time to take a bus back to Jerusalem from the competition venue in order to pick up the kids and get to the airport.

So, here we were with a camping backpack full of supplies, primarily instant food (needed to feed myself and my orthodox kids in Dublin) and beef snacks, and clothing for the three of us for four days in Ireland.

What I didn’t know was that the women’s bathrooms at the tournament did not have showers. It was easily 35 degrees. I had just fought four fights.

Clearly, the fifth fight was going to be peeling off my soaking wet attire and figuring out how to get into my dress, stockings.....yes, I know......and head covering as I stuck to every piece of it all along the way.

Clearly, the fifth fight was going to be peeling off my soaking wet attire and figuring out how to get into my dress, stockings.....yes, I know......and head covering as I stuck to every piece of it all along the way.

Got the kids and a cab to the airport. Six hours later, our flight to England. Five hours later, hotel still hasn’t brought up my backpack. At least the kids were asleep. At three am, I finally got my clean clothes and got into the shower only to get dressed again and wake the kids to go back to the airport to fly to Dublin.

If you know anything about Heathrow, you know it is a not a small airport.

And I had a backpack full of food, a 1-year-old who didn’t have a plane ticket (which is why we were late for boarding), and for some reason, they wouldn’t check my bag.

With 7-year-old and 1-year-old in tow, we ran in an attempt to not miss the flight. And ran. And at every corner, there was just one more never-ending corridor of gates.

The reason you needed to read all that is to explain what happened at breakfast.

The surprise was worth all of it. And.....

For the first time in twenty-four hours, I was sitting at a table. No more emergencies. No more running. And a friend of my mother asked me to pass her the salt.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to. It was that I couldn’t. I just could not lift my hands to make it happen. My body had pushed the last bit of energy out and there was nothing left.

And, it showed me that there actually is so much more that we are capable of if we just set ourselves up with what is needed to motivate us.

And, it showed me that there actually is so much more that we are capable of if we just set ourselves up with what is needed to motivate us.

I love Joy Mileaf, but someone else was going to have to pass her the salt.