Happy 5770

Happy New Year! It's ok, I haven't gone crazy, but in the Jewish world the new year started yesterday. Back in England Rosh Hashana was pretty much the same every year. I'd be dragged along to synagogue against my will as a child, then as an adult would do the same thing to my children. Things are different here in Naperville. When you go to synagogue every week, the new year is really special because its different. If you only go three times a year for high holy days, it's always the same. The main reason for the difference is the place is packed, we have a wonderful choir and there's an air of excitement as we all reconnect.
This year I noticed several firsts I have never experienced on any of my previous new year's.
1. We left the house to see a raccoon sitting on our front lawn.
2. A neighbour stopped to wish us a Happy Ramadan.
3. A stranger jogged past us during our walk to the synagogue (some habits die hard and we just don't like to drive, even though everyone else does apart from the rabbi). He stopped to tell us we were the most smartly dressed people he had seen that morning.
4. Grumpy and I opened the service with our humorous version of the regular weekly announcements in our roles as membership VPs of the synagogue.
5. I got lipstick on my cheek after the cantor kissed me.
6. The rabbi, who has recently moved into his first house in Naperville, told us all about the party his neighbours were having outside his home as he celebrated Rosh Hashana. A pig roast.
7. I spent the afternoon of the second day watching a DVD of a children's Christmas show, in preparation of a new project Mrs Hammerstein and I are beginning.