It has been as close as I’ll ever come to being pregnant.

For months I have been preparing for the big day when our family here In Israel will welcome a new addition: Mom. In the spirit of week-to-week guides for the expectant mother, I’ve kept a journal of this expectant son.

Week 1: Conception. New additions to the family don’t always come as quickly as we would like, and we dreamed about Mom’s aliya for a long time before it became a reality—the moment I learned my father had died.

Dad had no greater joy in life than hearing me talk about the writing projects I was working on, and I had no greater joy than seeing his. But when Dad died a little over a year ago, that depth of exchange hadn’t taken place in eight years.  I had mourned without rituals, and now I would perform the rituals but without the mourning. Even at that moment, I couldn’t help but think of the possibilities now available: Mom had desperately wanted to be near us during the years of Dad’s decline, and now she could come. The sages nailed this one emotionally: when a man dies and his son stands to inherit a substantial fortune, then at the moment of death the son recites the blessing for good tidings. Dad had left us the best inheritance possible—Mom.

I had long imagined what it would be like to have Mom here.  Where I live, status is important.  Around here you accrue status by regularly being seen walking with your elderly parent with a cane, a walker or a wheelchair.  I am surrounded by neighbors........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)