Birthdays a'comin' up...

So, like I always tell the kids... "you could celebrate your English birthday - if you were English."

Elisheva's is a little weird because she was born "between the days" (after the sun starts to set, but before it is completely finished), so we observe it on the 8th of Teves.

And here's a great "bulk" calculator that lets you do a bunch of dates at once!

http://www.hebcal.com/yahrzeit/

So here are ALL our dates to 2018 - print and cut and paste prominently to be sure you don't miss even one! (I like this because it becomes very clear that our birthdays are on the SAME day every year...):

Fri 10-Oct-2008 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Fri 24-Oct-2008 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Sun 04-Jan-2009 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Wed 14-Jan-2009 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Sun 08-Mar-2009 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar)
Sun 23-Aug-2009 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Tue 29-Sep-2009 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Tue 13-Oct-2009 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Fri 25-Dec-2009 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Mon 04-Jan-2010 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Fri 26-Feb-2010 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar)
Fri 13-Aug-2010 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Sun 19-Sep-2010 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Sun 03-Oct-2010 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Wed 15-Dec-2010 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Sat 25-Dec-2010 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Wed 16-Feb-2011 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar I)
Fri 02-Sep-2011 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Sun 09-Oct-2011 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Sun 23-Oct-2011 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Tue 03-Jan-2012 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Fri 13-Jan-2012 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Tue 06-Mar-2012 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar)
Tue 21-Aug-2012 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Thu 27-Sep-2012 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Thu 11-Oct-2012 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Fri 21-Dec-2012 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Mon 31-Dec-2012 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Fri 22-Feb-2013 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar)
Fri 09-Aug-2013 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Sun 15-Sep-2013 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Sun 29-Sep-2013 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Wed 11-Dec-2013 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Sat 21-Dec-2013 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Wed 12-Feb-2014 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar I)
Fri 29-Aug-2014 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Sun 05-Oct-2014 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Sun 19-Oct-2014 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Tue 30-Dec-2014 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Fri 09-Jan-2015 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Tue 03-Mar-2015 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar)
Tue 18-Aug-2015 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Thu 24-Sep-2015 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Thu 08-Oct-2015 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Sun 20-Dec-2015 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Wed 30-Dec-2015 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Sun 21-Feb-2016 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar I)
Tue 06-Sep-2016 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Thu 13-Oct-2016 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Thu 27-Oct-2016 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Fri 06-Jan-2017 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Mon 16-Jan-2017 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Fri 10-Mar-2017 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar)
Fri 25-Aug-2017 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Sun 01-Oct-2017 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Sun 15-Oct-2017 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Tue 26-Dec-2017 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Fri 05-Jan-2018 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)
Tue 27-Feb-2018 NR's Hebrew Birthday (12th of Adar)
Tue 14-Aug-2018 TM's Hebrew Birthday (3rd of Elul)
Thu 20-Sep-2018 GZ's Hebrew Birthday (11th of Tishrei)
Thu 04-Oct-2018 YM's Hebrew Birthday (25th of Tishrei)
Sun 16-Dec-2018 EC's Hebrew Birthday (8th of Tevet)
Wed 26-Dec-2018 JM's Hebrew Birthday (18th of Tevet)

So we're gearing up for Rosh Hashana tomorrow night; it's going to be an interesting one. We continue having "normal" family meals with my parents every few days - the only difference is my father doesn't / can't eat. My oncologist friend says she'd be very surprised if he made it a year (I don't have many doctor friends - nothing shocks or saddens them and they're so brutal sometimes...).

Oh - he offered me his mortgage broker business; I politely declined... zero interest in real estate, from any angle. So I guess they'll get financial people to wrap up the business and not do any new investments.

Sara is dating a holistic nutrition consultant who is recommending some unusual therapies. I do not like him, not that anybody asked. Altogether too mellow for me, and much too talkative about the subject of "remineralizing" the acidic cancerous body and healing through food supplements. I think I'm open to a range of therapies, but he really seems SO not qualified to even talk on the subject.

Sara, however, is utterly smitten and believes he has a wealth of expertise. I dunno... maybe he has counselled many, many people through this exact same thing. I doubt it. I'd love to meet survivors, but as she pointed out, few people throw themselves wholeheartedly into that type of approach, so maybe there are none - just dead skeptics.

And Eli is Eli - he believes everything is his fault and started literally wailing at supper tonight that nobody understands what he goes through.

Which made YM cry, so I went out and gave him a big hug.

While Abigail immerses herself in her new life in the English Department at McMaster.

And my mother cooks and cleans.

We are all like that story of the blind men and the elephant, groping in the dark and coming up with our own answers about what the heck the big wrinkly grey thing is in our midst.

I'm the one in the back, collecting manure for the garden. ;-)))

Supper:

Tov Li falafel.