having read aloud my words for the mikvah dedication, with no real trouble, it was surprising to me that it was a tissue moment, all three times when i spoke them for the assembled groups. fortunately i had tissues, enough to share with a few weepy people in each group. (anyone who has not yet seen the poems i wrote, or if anyone would want to see roughly the "speech" send an email, please.) overall the event was very successful and i'm sorry i don't have the email list of the committee, so it will have to wait for tomorrow to write to them all, congratulating us on a wonderful afternoon program. almost in every room, i sort of stunned people into silence. the other presenters were about using mikvah for monthly purity (which some people think of as "the" reason), for leadership, recovery from illness, a milestone birthday, and conversion. there were not really a lot of questions, but there was some discussion in each group. and then everyone took the small ribbons i had cut into 18" lengths, and in each room tied them together and then when we got downstairs, the sections were connected until all of our individual pieces were part of a whole that represented all of our personal experiences into the larger whole. it was lovely. and then we heard the blessing for affixing a mezzuzah, heard the shofar and did a mini-tour of the facility. it was wonderful. and then i went to greek dinner with steve and lois. including chocolate lava cake (the special) for dessert.
so it's full of surprises.
and now the Tony Awards.
