A Sweet New Year

This is a good time of year to get out of your comfort zone, and try things that are not the same as your usual patterns. With that in mind we decided last Tuesday, that the next day, Wednesday erev Rosh Hashana, we would go apple picking.

This entailed pushing myself to be almost completely finished with yom tov preparations  by Wednesday morning, as we wanted to be out of the house  by ten a.m. Although our departure was delayed by more time than made me pleased, we ventured out on that stunning September morning to the hills of Warwick NY.

A mere thirty minutes from the house we found vibrant sun ripened Prime Red apples within easy reach of all the kids. Much munching, some shoulder carrying to get the really stunning ones too high for any one person to reach, and two screams of "bees" later, our bag was full. We put it in the car, drove down to the exit, where you stop, show your bags (set price per bag), and pay.

That's when we discovered it.

My purse, which is always left in the car, which is always in the garage, had been taken out the night before when someone other than I had used the car. I recalled in that moment of sheer panic that I had moved it into the dining room that morning, which is why it wasn't noticed when we left.

I turned with great hope to the adult child sitting next to me, but her face told me right away that she too had not brought her purse. I asked the women at the gate to give me a moment as we scoured the car. I did find a rather large check made out from me to my daughter who had left to Israel the week before. She had given me a few checks that needed to be deposited in her account from her job that summer  (and some money I owed her). Since it was made out to her, they told me, sadly, they couldn't help.

We had seen some "members of the tribe" in the orchard, and figuring they would  understand the frustration of going apple picking on erev Yom Tov only to be turned away empty handed, we decided to head back up, find them, and ask them to spot us the money which we would send to them after yom tov.

We drove back up, and the kids suggested, that before we asked strangers for money we do a better job searching the car. Messiness sometimes pays off, and the kids were convinced we would find the money in the car. 

They were right.

 Sort of.

We found $6 in bills and coins, BUT, we took one more look through the pile of checks, and found one made out to cash! Between the check and the cash we had enough to buy the whole bag, though the kids were reassuring me that if the check was not accepted, we could just use the cash to get a quarter of a bag. and that fewer apples would be more than OK.

We came back to the gate, I gave them the check and my phone number, and  off we went, ladened with sun drenched apples, good attitudes, and the joy of knowing that people can break the cycle of what they "normally" do, even with a few curveballs.

I hope the end of that year portends well for the next, and the opportunities to break habits and cycles with joy and success.