It’s been a rough week.
One week ago, I was on air filming for a big national TV show, the Tamron Hall Show. 4 minutes into our intended 9-minute segment we heard sirens signaling to rush to our bomb shelter. They were warnings of rockets projected to land near our home. You can watch the viral moment HERE, where midway through cracking eggs I rushed to gather my kids to safety.
The show chose not to get tangled in Israel affairs, edited out the chaos and aired my sheet pan egg segment neatly. Fair enough, the poor team didn’t know that filming with someone in Israel meant getting entangled in a political war (and its a fun recipe!!). Nonetheless, you can watch the tense moments of me trying to hold it together until I registered what happened HERE. The team at Tamron Hall was incredibly supportive and loving and I’m thankful that it all turned out OK on their end. I obsessed with making sure they had what they needed for the recipe, that my kids felt safe and all was safe and good. Ya know, flexible mom life. Meanwhile, for 3 nights straight our sleep was interrupted by more sirens. Each one accompanied with sprints to the bomb shelter, loud booms and restless nights with fears of the unknown.
WATCH: What You Didn’t See On National TV during my Cooking Segment
A New ‘New Normal’ While in Israel
It is in times like this when my faith is strengthened. When my gratitude for the sons of my friends and the husbands of my loved ones who are fighting to keep the citizens of Israel safe is expressed. This Monday we celebrated the holiday of Shavuot. My parents were supposed to join in our festivities but on the eve of the holiday, my brother-in-law who serves in the reserves in an elite IDF until got called up to protect us, leaving my worried sister and mom of 5 alone for the holiday. My parents stayed to comfort her.
How bizarre and how surreal it is that just over a week ago we were celebrating the ‘end’ of covid, mask-free at weddings and restaurants, and just a spit moment later barricading in our homes. How bizarre that after a year of remote learning we had just gone back to ‘normal’ and the kids are now back at home on zoom.
Holding Onto Hope
My ability to cling to positivity and faith lies in envisioning the bigger picture and I rest at night with faith that this too shall pass. Our home is happy (although we do fight hard and debate politics at the dinner table!). Other than hearing the news and thinking twice about venturing too far from shelter, we try our best to maintain a sense of normalcy. I cook dinner. And Lunch. And breakfast. And a slew of snacks for my homeschooled crew. Liam and I watch Shark Tank at night. Friends and I keep in touch, I work and continue to celebrate our freedoms despite these hard days. This will pass, we will persevere, and we will soon remember this time as just a challenging moment.
A Little Love Goes A Long Way
Your emails, DM’s and WhatsApp’s have been such a light during this time. I love you and wish us all a time closer to a world full of humanity, tranquility, patience, empathy and respect soon. And encourage you, as always, to focus on that which you can control: your state, your influence, your generosity and your love. It’s only through this that we can truly live a life that matters.
