Once upon a most wonderful time I was the entire night staff of a hotel on a kibbutz very close to Kiryat Shmonah. I loved my job and met some wonderful people, among them, a woman who lived in a Lebanese village that was as close to the border as it could be without being in Israel. She had the most beautiful eyes and a marvelous smile. Her husband was an officer in the Southern Lebanese Army that fought with our army against the Hizbolla. Without fail she came to say "good morning" to me the minute she got to work in the morning. If she told me her name once, she told me a thousand times, and we had a regular joke going about my bad memory. I disappeared from work quite abruptly, never to return, and then, Ehud Barak turned tail and left S. Lenanon and to all intents and purposes abandoned the very people who stood shoulder to shoulder with us against Hizbolla. For months after that I tried to find out what became of my friend, but as I could only recall the name of her village and where she worked, didn't have much luck until last night. Jimmy, the guy I did the translation for a couple of weeks ago brought me some tabouli last night and we chatted about things and stuff. He mentioned the village he was from and I started interogating him about my friend. I still get choked up just thinking about it. He knew exactly who I meant and the minute he said her name (Shamms) I remembered that that was indeed her name. Jimmy not only knows her, Shamms's father is his (Jimmy's) Godfather. It then turned out that Jimmy had stayed at the hotel a lot and is still in touch with a Shin Bet guy I used to talk with often and once gave me a computer! He was Jimmy's commanding officer. How small a world is it? I have wondered many times how to get in touch with the Shin Bet guy, and never believed I'd find him. He retired a while before my stroke and whoever replaced me at work would not have known how to get in touch with me. If he tried my home phone, he still wouldn't get an answer because I was in hospital and rehab for close to four months and Irit would have been rude if she deigned to answer. Highly heaped Blessings on Richard's head for bringing Jimmy over. Now I know that Shamms is ok, even though she and her family went through a very bad time after Israel abandonded them, and, I'll soon be in touch with my old shu-shu pal!
I have always believed that if you wait, one day you'll find out. Also that when listening to anything from a converstation to a lecture, most of your questions will be answered if you just pay attention. Of course, I didn't wait patiently after I heard the first clues about Shamms, and the shu shu. I swung into interrogation mode right away! Jimmy is going to have his sister (still in Lebanon) tell Shamms "hello" from me. I am one chuffed gimp.
On a not so happy note. The weather was supposed to be clear until tonight and I had a trip to the clinic planned. Now that I am confined to my wheely, I need the kitchen opened up because I can't get in there with the wheely. To get the work done I need onw of the therapist types to come and write a report and make a plan. To get him up here, I need the clinic to send for him. It's one of those things that it's best to do in person, as the nurse has to do it through that jerk doctor in charge of 'home care'. It was kind of dripping rain when I brought Peg in, and if it's still just drippy by the time I get dressed, I go anyway. This no access to the kitchen is not good.
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