On the border of Jerusalem - An Interfaith weekend

And yet another interfaith weekend happened but this one was a bit different. First of all it was only for 24 hours and ended Friday evening. So to those with no transportation (like myself) over the weekend until the Sabbath ends or those that are Sabbath observant - there was an extra day offered. Thankfully having some freebies in my life such as this weekend was a gift from God. Unfortunately, Hubby was too down to join me so I took my 17 year old Nasty daughter. His great loss. Of course, on Friday, he called me frantic..

"There's nothing to eat in this house. We'll die of starvation!" and this while my daughter and I were stuffing our faces at the luncheon buffet.

I knew that the other two daughters would take care of Mr. Biafra. Things always sound worse over the phone. Like when he called me a few months ago while I was partying at Ibrahim's house..

"Our dog got hit by a car. I don't know if he'll make it. You'd better come home now."

Somehow instinct and experience told me to continue enjoying myself before being drawn into Hubby's Abyss. And when I got home, the dog wasn't bloodied and walked with only a slight limp. A miracle!!

So after I hung up the phone with Hubby, continuing to eat my food with relish, I sat down with a couple of my newly made friends. There was Suzie from Oklahoma, who was volunteering with the Peace Corps in Thailand who had met an Israeli and is visiting him here. She was this peppery 24 year old who got along great with my daughter. The kind that gets all the secrets out of you.

"Oh, you're seventeen??? I lost my virginity at 17."

Pause.

"No, we just sleep together, we don't do anything. Most people wait until they're 18 here."

"HA! That's exactly what I told MY mother!"

Stuff like that.

Then I was trying out my Arabic on Suhair.

"It's really Bareed (cold) out there!" pronouncing it baREED.

"What are you telling me about a post office."

"Post office??? I'm trying to tell you it's cold!"

"Ohhhhh - that's BAHrid" -

Jeez. I better quit while I'm ahead.

Mahmood, a tall, handsome guy from the movie industry, was there and promised my daughter a part as an "extra" if she goes back to school. He said they're beginning to film US movies again in Israel. There were quite a few being filmed here before the Intifada broke out and then nothing.

My 17 year old went out with the younger crowd Thursday and Friday evenings. I wished I could have joined them but at my age and being "the mother", even though I'm a cool mother, I still get passed up these days. I was happy my daughter enjoyed herself and hope the weekend will change her and she won't think "they all hate us" as she told me when we were hanging up clothing in our hotel room on Thursday. And hopefully she'll want to join the Junior Sulha event that Mahmood is arranging for young kids later on this year.

It's so true - peace begins with kids. All the young mothers from Bethlehem and the Jewish mothers from Jerusalem brought their babies and toddlers and I was watching them all crawl on the floor together, tumbling over each other and touching each other's faces and playing with each other's toys. If only they could continue on like this....