Rites of Passage...

I love my family. Every one of them. Some I see often, some I don't see for years at a time. Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, funerals - that's when I get to see more of them. And over the past few years I haven't been getting to many of them. Between Daniel, moving to one income and family health issues, I've been absent. Too often.

With all the stars aligned, though, I was able to attend Cameron's Bar Mitzvah yesterday. Cameron is my cousin Cheryl's (and her wonderful husband Glenn)'s son. Cheryl is a cousin I've always looked up to. First, she is 5 years older, which in and of itself made her tres' cool. Second, she showed me the Playboy magazines my Dad had stashed at my grandmother's house. Third, she has handled more than her share of life's challenges with courage, grace and a terrific sense of humor.

Cameron is a really cool kid. He's smart, very handsome, and looked at his Bar Mitzvah with what I consider the right mix of excitement, nervousness and responsibility. When I arrived and greeted him he told me he was very nervous. I, of course, assured him he'd do fine, and he nodded his head in a way that you just KNEW he would.

And he did. Any appearance of nervousness vanished the moment he stepped onto the bema (the raised platform where the Torah is kept). He did awesome. Adam & Jake kept Daniel and I company in an adjoining kids' sanctuary (Daniel lasted about two minutes in the main sanctuary). It was terrific!

The party afterwards was at a wonderful inn in Martinsville. The food was delicious, the music was... interesting (I am getting old...) and the laughs were aplenty. Anytime you put all the Weinbergs at one table you're going to hear lots of laughing and spontaneous singing. Just don't look over or you might see some good-natured political incorrectness...

And Daniel slept.

Until we meet again...