#BlogElul 21: Eight Things I Loved About Today

This morning I overslept. When I rolled over, it was 8:32 a.m., the time I usually leave home to get to work on time. I encountered several other frustrations that sent my blood pressure soaring, but there were many things to love about today, too.

Here are eight of them:

1. This morning I had a plumbing issue in my apartment. When Victor, one of the Kips Bay maintenance guys, came to fix it, he showed me how to use the valve under the sink to turn off the water when the faucet handle doesn't work.  Who knew?!


2. I saw an ad on a bus stop shelter for a new show this fall. The Muppets are coming back to television!


3. A few blocks later, a woman in a black Lexus was sitting in the bus lane at a bus stop when a bus approached. Passengers waiting for the bus had to step out into the street to get on the bus. One of them, a feisty octogenarian, fist raised, yelled right at her: "You're in the bus lane, you idiot! You're in the bus lane!" 


4. By the late afternoon, my dearest friend of more than three decades had arrived in NYC...and we haven't stopped talking since.


5. The results of my sister's post-chemotherapy PET scan yesterday came in today: no evidence of malignancy!


6. The author of today's Ten Minutes of Torah said this to me in an email: "I enjoy reading your Elul stuff."


7. It's the beginning of the long Labor Day weekend, which means that cooler weather can't be far behind.


8. By the time today ended, Shabbat had arrived!

Shabbat shalom. Enjoy the long weekend!

Inspired by Ima on (and off) the Bima,this #BlogElul post is one in a series marking the days of the Hebrew month of Elul, which precedes the Jewish High Holidays and traditionally serves as a time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the new year.