Falling down, getting up, & celebrating freedom.

I just fell down flat on my face. Literally.

All I was doing was walking into a Target – with my face mask fogging up my glasses with each breath – and I missed the curb and tripped, falling face first down onto the sidewalk.

And all I wanted to do was stay there until this pandemic is over.

But instead, I got up (unassisted) and I laughed.

I laughed because I now have a skinned knee like when I was eight years old. I laughed because I almost had taken a sip of my iced coffee through my mask (nope, doesn’t work). And I laughed because even with all that we have on our plates, we are still free in what remains the freest republic on earth, in spite of everything happening – and fortunately – changing around us.

It just so happens that the 4^th of July is on a Saturday this year, coinciding with the Jewish Sabbath, which begins at sundown Friday and goes through sundown Saturday, when the most observant unplug for 25 hours. Talk about independence! Have you ever tried it? A-ma-zing.

During this wacky, wacky time, when we’re juggling the needs of elderly parents from afar, young adult children who don’t know what’s next for college and career, small children who don’t get why they can’t hug their grandparents, and all those related work issues, falling down on your face, according to my dear pal in LA, is a metaphor for what we’re all going through.

The real key is how you get up.

Do you need help? Ask for it. Do you want to cry? Go for it. Do you want to laugh? Let me hear you!

For now, let’s all remember that this too shall pass, and as we look around, let’s relish (a 4^th of July hot dog pun) our freedom and try, try, try to unplug for some real independence.

Happy 4^th, Shabbat Shalom, and keep laughing – through your mask!