7:10 AM, Morning Rush, The Happiest Moment of My Life

Posted by JewishMom on Dec 27, 2021 in Inspiration, Jewish Moms, Motherhood, My life, Toddlers | 1 comment

It is 7:10 in the morning. I grab kippas from the kippah drawer, remove toast from the toaster, stuff water bottles into the side pockets of backpacks. I’m automatic pilot-ing my way through the morning rush, until that sweetest of moments arrives when I’ve dispatched all my kids, gone back upstairs with a cup of tea in hand and returned my sleepy-head to its pillow.
But standing over the kitchen counter, spreading chocolate spread onto pita (4th-grade class trip today!) the thought popped into my head, as it has many times since I watched the video about Lior, an Israeli father of 10 who would always tell people, even when he was dying from the brain tumor discovered on his 50th birthday: “This is the happiest moment of my life!” (watch video at https://fb.watch/a8payFOrE2/

Lior believed in living life as if there’s no other moment besides this present moment. And following his death, his family and friends have been doing their best to spread that life and light-giving message around Israel and the world.
So this morning, standing over my kitchen counter, my little boys bickering in the background, a headache forming an inch behind my eyebrows, I said to myself:
This is the Happiest Moment of my Life.
I live in Israel!
All my kids are healthy! (except for that daughter who had a virus yesterday and the other daughter who has it today)
Unlike many people in human history, I’ve reached the grand old age of 50, and am b”H in good health. And so is my husband
We have enough money to pay for food and clothing and a nice place to live.
My (bickering) kids are so cute. They bring so much color and life to my days (not to mention that in just 5 minutes they’ll be leaving:)
And look at this kitchen, painted all yellow like that. Isn’t that awesome?
And look outside, at that tree, at that sky, at that huge squash dangling Jonah-style in our garden.
This, for sure, is the Happiest Moment of my Life! At least, until the next one. And the next one. And the next one. How sad, I thought, that until I heard about Lior, I hadn’t noticed all these happiest of moments before.