THE LONGEST DAY OF THE YEAR

Yom Kippur is without a doubt the longest day of the year. Not in terms of daylight hours or an other measurable means. It just seems to go on forever and ever. The up side of it is that it is very quiet. No cars, and only the voices of people going to the synagogue behind Gimp House can be heard. Kiryat Shmonah doesn't even get many of the bicycle riders the rest of the country is afflicted with. That's one of the things I love about this town. Most of the people here still have great respect for our religion. Even those who do not practice it don't get in the faces of those who do. Not that there is any sneaking around, it's just that you won't find anyone having BBQs or doing other blatantly sacreligious things in public. We have had our share of uproars over shops that sell pork, but that has pretty much settled down. There is a new tempest brewing over a new coffee shop in one of the malls that's open on Saturdays but that should blow over soon. They didn't advertise so people only found out that it's open if they went to the drugstore in that mall or by reading a letter in one of the local papers complaining about it. The Burger King in the same mall is also open and no one pays much attention to it. We all know that the whole town is closed except for two places in town, and those who want to eat out on Shabbat simply drive 5 minutes out of town. It doesn't much matter to me, as I don't drive on Shabbat or handle money. The thing about the new coffee shop will probably just blow over and they will stay open. Or not. It doesn't much matter to me. I'm not all that interested in it except as a topic to write about this morning.
I spent most of yesterday reading and thinking. When the fast was over (I do fast except for my meds and a cracker with them), I watched a movie that was on my TIVO from the beginning and had a right fit and yell up at my father. The movie was Blizzard and it's about friendship mostly, but the girl is a skater and it touches on what is still an open sore with me.
My passion in life was, and still is figure skating. I had a natural talent but no one ever bothered to develop it properly and it's not exactly something you can teach yourself. It has always been my bitterest disappointment that my father put all his effort into my brother's hockey and left me to my own devices on the ice. I've gotten over the other acts of favoritism, but that one still hurts. Granted, I might never have gotten very far with it, but I'll never know because I never had a chance. The one good thing that came from it all was that I learned at an early age that if I wanted something, I had to work for it. While my brother was given new skates twice a year, I was put to work in our store to earn money to buy my new skates. And anything else I might want. There were many positive life lessons in that, among them to appreciate my things.
But I still wish that something had been done with my talent for skating. As nothing was done, maybe it's time to let go as it is now too late and we'll never know if I'd have been any good. I AM thankful that I got to spend as much time on the ice as I did, and am very sad that those days are over. As is last year. It's a new year over here. Let's see if can actually implement any of the lessons I've learned.