mazel tov

I spent most of my Saturday celebrating the fact that the daughter of one of my dear friends became a bat mitzvah. It was quite the day. I told my girls I was glad for our Catholicism...who can afford bat/bar mitzvah parties and weddings too?

M.L. (the new 13-year-old) was truly impressive. The lesson she taught during the service was incredibly thoughtful. She chanted...actually sang...her portion of the Torah in a beautiful clear soprano. There is some real talent there. And poise. Few are that poised at 13.

Her portion of the Torah was on the various Jewish laws...so appropriate, as her mother is a lawyer. She based her lesson on the law dictating that Jews should not mix linen and wool fabrics, identifying it as one of the strangest of all the Jewish laws. She said she decided to look at it metaphorically...that you cannot judge wool (which is scratchy but keeps you warm) against linen (which keeps you cool) because they are different things. You cannot judge one by the other. Then she talked about accepting differences between people. She spoke against generalizing people; she discussed the negativity of judging people by appearances (using her favorite musical, Wicked, as an example) and talked of Prince Caspian as an example of why you cannot judge one person by the group of people with whom they are affiliated.

At one point Eldest leaned over to me and said, "Oh my gosh! She's only 13 right?" And it's true. M.L. did a beautiful job. Sometimes we just don't give kids enough credit for being the amazingly thoughtful creatures that they can be...when they wish to be thoughtful.

That evening was spent at our friends' country club at a lovely party. The adults were on one side of the dance floor in a dining room...having a yummy cedar planked salmon and enjoying the open bar to the fullest. The middle-schoolers were sequestered in a room on the other side of the dance floor with a buffet of pasta, chicken and an ice cream sundae bar. In other words, we didn't have to see most of their silly antics! (Brilliant planning, eh?) In between, the DJ fed their dance craze and they had a fabulous time.
And...oh, oh, oh...a boy TOUCHED Younger. Gah!!! She had her first slow dance! At one point in the evening, I walked by Younger and said, "Hi!" I was thanked for this by a, "Moooother!", followed by a flip of the hair as she stalked off.

But she also had one VERY funny experience. As a little background, M.L. goes to the elite school in this city. You know the kind, $17,000 for kindergarten? (And remember, that's Midwest money.) So lots of the kids at this party were from the wealthiest families in the city. With that background, here is the story Younger told us:

This one geeky boy kept talking to me. And he was a neeeeerd. Like really bad. And he kept saying to me, "My name is ___ but my friends just call me 'Tibal'." What do you think he meant by Tibal? I just kept turning away...because I didn't know what Tibal meant.

I looked at her, with dawning understanding, and said, "Tibal? Or did he say Tivol?" She said, "It might have been Tivol. Why?" I explained. Here's why for you in the blogosphere. (Really. Click. You'll laugh.)

Ha! Right? Rich, geeky boy trying to make his way with the pretty girls!

So then she shrugged and said, "Oh well. What was I going to say, where's my diamond?"

Oh dear.