August 8 – “Rabbi Convention”

We made it to New Jersey with very little problem.  In fact the flight was quite peaceful save for some turbulence and the fact that a fourteen month old named Elizabeth really wanted to get out of her car seat.  She was cute as she could be, but she could only make it about thirty minutes at a time before she thought about getting down and walking around.  Then she went into a tirade of screaming for a while.  We felt sorry for the folks immediately around her.  Our seatmate was a girl heading to New Jersey to be in a wedding.  Not the same one we were going to, though. 

The ride from Newark airport to Freehold was beautiful.  The countryside was full of trees.  Chris even saw some deer.  It just wasn’t what I expected.  It was great to see Mark and Melissa again.  Their house, and hence the wedding venue since it will be in their back yard, backs up to some woods, so it should be gorgeous when they get everything set up.  We had supper there and did a lot of reminiscing, I even showed off some of the old pictures I had just scanned from the many years we have known each other.  Gotta love those old home movies. 

Our hotel room is very nice except for one thing.  We are on the third floor right above the hotel’s outdoor bar.  And the bar just happens to be the happening place in Freehold, New Jersey.  Live band.  Packed house.  Add to that the big rabbi convention taking place in the hotel and it made for a … noisy night.  At least the band stopped playing at 11:30.  I think it is supposed to keep going until 12:30 the rest of the week, though.  That’ll be something to look forward to.  Maybe we should give in and join the crowd.  I could get some pointers from one of the rabbis. 

The whole time change thing is odd here, too.  They have a weird schedule for television programming anyway.  The news doesn’t come on until 11:00 at night, and all the shows are pushed back an hour.  That’s probably why they have such a reputation for being cranky up here.  They don’t get enough sleep.  As I’m typing this, my computer is telling me that it’s almost 6:00 a.m., but the clock by the bed says it’s almost 7.  The alarm on my phone is set for 7, so we’ll see what happens here in a few minutes when Chris hears it.  We are meeting Mark and Melissa for breakfast at 8:30.  Guess I better go get ready.

Psalms 104:5 says, “He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.”

Father, thanks for the great trip.  Here begins the New Jersey adventure.  Amen.