A note on how quickly we adjust to new realities. As of last night, we hadnt heard a single air-raid siren in Modiin, despite the fact that Gazan-fired missiles had been aimed at multiple communities throughout Southern and Central Israel. Some friends joked that we were beginning to feel left out. What are we, chopped liver? the mayor of Modiin was purported to have asked in a satirical FB post. And then at 9:00PM last night, shortly after we ushered out the Sabbath with the traditional Havdalah ceremony, the air-raid siren in Modiin finally did sound. It was while our kids were watching Frozen real loud, during the song Do You Want to Build a Snowman, and those of us sitting in front of the tv in the salon barely heard the siren. Adina had to yell for everyone to get into the safe room, which we proceeded to do in semi-stupor. 90 seconds later, in the distance we could hear a muffled boom, not a particularly scary or impressive sound - probably an Iron Dome antiballistic missile intercepting a rocket fired from Gaza far above Modiin skies. We sat in our rather untidy safe room telling jokes for about 10 minutes until we were permitted by Homefront Command rules to exit, and rewound Frozen to the point where we had left it. And then wouldnt you know it, as we rejoined the movie, right during Idina Menzels iconic rendition of Let it Go, the sirens went off again. We were beginning to feel rather peeved. At least this time we remembered to bring our dog, Lexi, into the safety of our shelter. See, you do get better with practice. We slept normally last night, and as we were already beginning our morning ascent towards wakefulness -- ascent may be too ambitious a word, perhaps our morning stumble -- the air-raid siren sounded again at 6AM. Seasoned pros, we got into the shelter in record time. This time, 8 booms, the first one much louder -- probably an intercept in much lower skies. Somewhat impressive, still not particularly scary though. And this time, we all had our cell phones with us so that we could call, text, and Whatsap our friends and relatives. Adina, who was driving the work carpool this morning, got a Whatsup from her colleague stating that after this Hamas sponsored wake-up call, there was no excuse for running late this morning. Life assumed the appearance of normality almost immediately. Adina went to work. Yu and I rode our bicycles this morning to her summer day camp, and though we did talk about what to do in the event of an air-raid siren, our morning ride was uneventful. K and her Savta are volunteering this morning with developmentally challenged kids in Beit Issie Shapiro in Raanana (en.beitissie.org.il/). Only Ya decided he wanted to stay home from camp -- hes currently playing video games on his mostly sisters computer. And of course, the BIGGEST SHOCK this morning, was opening up ESPN and learning that King James LeBron had signed a 2-year contract with Cleveland. Hes coming back home to Cleveland. Were staying here at home in Modiin. Theres no place like home!!!!
Posted on: Sun, 13 Jul 2014 06:23:12 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015