Return Are All your Ducks in a Row? September 2, 2014

We think of returning in September. We return from vacation, we return to school, we turn ourselves toward the new season and to our pursuits with more energy, more optimism, fresh from the summer doldrums. Are you ready?

Have you returned home, to see your space anew, perhaps seeing new tasks that will need to be done, perhaps admiring the place that has accumulated your memories from the past?

For most of us, we return slightly different from who we were before we left. We have had some time for new experiences which add to our knowledge of ourselves. We have met new people and reacquainted ourselves with old friends. We have proudly shared our accomplishments from the past year-- and perhaps we have considered our failures anew. We have the opportunity to see ourselves through a new set of lenses. Our friends and family who live far away remember who we were last time they saw us so we have the opportunity to see ourselves through their eyes. Do you see the change in yourself?

For the Jewish community, September is the beginning of a new lunar year 5775, a time to join with others in a prayer for peace and for the courage and the strength to accomplish our goals for the next year. For me, I appreciate even more the importance of raising money to advance research into Alzheimer's disease. I miss my husband so much; he is alive in body only, eight years after a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, 

this dread illness that robs people of their judgment, their self-care skills and their memories.