A Hundred Miles in a Million Years

Heyo! I'm back! Actually I was back last Saturday and it has taken me this long to find my ass with both hands. I probably found it with my right hand somewhere around Tuesday but the left's always a little slow.

So.

I'm still tanned. Even though I haven't seen the sun in 7 days.

You know when you would play in those bouncy castles as kids and you would run at a bouncy wall expecting it to be totally fun. But then you hit it and it "bounces" you back to the ground a bit faster (and harder) than you expected and it knocks the wind out of you and you're trying to play it cool because your not a baby (AND IT'S A FRIGGIN' BOUNCY CASTLE) but you kind of hurt your butt? That's kind of how I feel about school right now. It's just BIG. And I know I can handle it. I just kind of hurt my butt.
(And what are you talking about you never ran at a bouncy castle wall. You totally did.)

My class runs until the 29th. By now I have a handle on what I'm doing and we're slowing entering territory in history that I'm more familiar with. Modern Jewish History is basically huge. 1500s until today and it's pretty much all sad. Haven't encountered an uplifting thing yet. But that's uplifting in itself, I guess. That through all of their sadness, through persecution based on their religion, through all this time, Judaism still exists and people come together and tell their collective story. And there's humility in that. But our last reading was on the Sabbatean movement, where a dude named Sabbatai Zvi (say that aloud to yourself right now) showed up in the 1660s saying that he was the Messiah, walked around trying to change things, and some of the Jews totally bought in. And then he converted to Islam.
Boom.
What the…what?! That's kind of what Jewish history is like. Something good looks like it's going to happen and then something bad happens. Something really disappointing. Like escaping famine by going to Egypt and then being enslaved there for hundreds of years. Case in point. One historian has said though that for the Jews, the best of times and the worst of times typically occur in the same situation. And that's just the way things are done.

But we just got back from doing things that were fun so let's talk about that! I will go into greater detail in a later post about everything but the two weddings were so perfect! My sister's wedding was so cool and Moozh and I did great at the reception. She looked so beautiful and my bro-in-law looked swank! I will hopefully post pictures at a later date but I want to be respectful to them. They're still waiting to get their photos back and I know what an agonizing process it can be waiting for wedding pictures. And Sasa and Curtis' wedding was amazing as well! Holy, can't wait to get those pictures back too! The Mill that they got married at, whoa. The weather cooperated for both, the pictures I did see turned out miraculous. Moozh performed Sasa and Curtis' wedding and I couldn't have been more proud of him. The words of encouragement and exhortation that he had for them were beautiful and what he chose to emphasize and include things that were important to them made the message so meaningful to even those that were just sitting watching. Again, pictures hopefully later but I will post some pictures that Moozh took while we were in Maui. Man's got skills!

This is where Sas and Curtis got married, to give you a taste.

This is a sunset from the West part of the island. But look at
the perfect placement of that boat!

Jellyfish at the Aquarium. The Maui Aquarium is awesome!

We actually saw quite a few turtles by accident while we were
snorkelling but this one was at the aquarium too. How cute
is his face?!

This is how pineapple grows. On short stalks with long,
angular leaves

This was the view from the rehearsal dinner.
Again, Moozh did well with the timing. 

It feels very strange and not totally great to be back in Vancouver. I think I got too accustomed to being able to wear my bathing suit under everything. I'll get back into the swing of things. Can't wait to see all the people that I love here!!