I was going to write this up for here but they were kind enough to ask for a guest blog and I was honored and happy to share: There is Enough Love.

It’s been a long week. Actually a long two weeks. I still haven’t written about Noah’s bar mitzvah but now I’m not sure if I will. It’s hard to write about events like that without making them maudlin and it’s too dear to my heart to risk it. I can’t believe that Noah is 13 though. Right before the ceremony we were talking about how he’ll be 20 when Madison has her bat mitzvah and the rabbi said, “Don’t go there! Don’t let your mind picture that right now!” Yeah, it was a little much to contemplate.

But it was lovely. And I can’t believe it was just last weekend.

This week has been incredibly busy with figuring out how to close out FertilityAuthority. They have been very understanding and kind about my leaving. I may continue to freelance for them depending on where they are at the end of my tenure. Things are moving very quickly there and I am excited for them even though I won’t be the one implementing their plans.

Meanwhile, I have an interview for grad school not this weekend but next. It’s a day long interview with one-on-one and group activities. I’m nervous but excited because I think it’ll be interesting. I’m certainly hopeful about ending up at OSU but am still working on my Plan B. It’s nice to get this far though. I guess my GRE scores weren’t total suck.

Julia and I are working on another project that has us both excited but as you like know, she’s been a little busy these past couple of weeks. Happily Gage is doing GREAT and we hope to get cracking very soon (like yesterday). She has a lot going on business-wise, too, and I’m trying to lend a hand with some of it.

And of course I’m doing major networking to line up freelance work. I redid my professional site (to match this one — branding) since it was way out of date. I also have some freelance jobs that I was already juggling, one of which I finished up last night just under deadline. I’m also working on an article about disrupted adoptions but need a new family to focus on since the one I was working with doesn’t seem to be panning out. If you have a lead please let me know. I’m happy (of course) to use pseudonyms for anyone I interview.

Noah went to bed a twelve year old and when he wakes up (to doughnuts), he will be thirteen. Thirteen! A teenager! Last night he kept saying, “One more hug? One last hug from a 12-year old? Because tomorrow I’ll be a big hulking teenager!”

His birthday has taken a backseat to his bar mitzvah, I’ll admit, and there won’t be much of a celebration today (although there are those doughnuts) but it’s certainly time to reflect on the boy he used to be and the man he is becoming.

Yesterday I read through some of my old Noah entries, remembering some of his funny sayings and his funny games. I read about his life as a big brother and about his life before and his thoughts about getting a sibling.

I miss little kid Noah. I love this big kid one. I can’t wait to see him all grown-up. He’s smart. He’s funny. He’s kind.

Happy birthday to my boy!

Noah converted on this blog. Not literally ON this blog but our conversion was a blog topic for the first couple of years that I was blogging. We converted when he was four and I was 31. It wasn’t much of a ceremony and we didn’t do the mikveh. This was because my rabbi, god love him, who almost didn’t convert me ‘cuz Noah wasn’t (isn’t) circumcised and because I couldn’t promise to circumcise future kids (moot point, as it turns out) said that anyone who didn’t believe in the mitzvah of circumcision would get nothing out of the ritual of the mikveh. I think he’s wrong there but I was so grateful to get converted that I let it slide.

Anyway, I may not have had a bris for my son and we may not have gone to the mikveh post-conversion but this bar mitzvah is a big deal for both of us. Noah has worked really really really hard — every single day with the chanting! — and both his tutor and our rabbi are very impressed with him. Terrific accent, terrific delivery and a beautiful voice.

I sit there during the rehearsals and I’m just so proud and so moved to see my son up there chanting his Torah portion with the rabbi’s hand on his shoulder.

So the bar mitzvah is Saturday and I’m kinda losing my mind between work and prep. We left a lot to last minute partially because I have never ever ever organized anything like this (Brett and I eloped for one — we don’t really do weddings in my family) and had no idea how much I should have done beforehand and partially because that was just the reality with the holidays and a new job and working two jobs at once for a little while. It’s just nuts. But good nuts. Because the party may be odd and mismatched and mostly full of goyim (starting with my husband) but they will be people we love and who love our son and there will be food and music (Noah’s play list seems to have a lot of disco on it — go figure).

Now I just have to get through the week to GET there!!