My Conversion Story Journal

July 29, 2023

I had a great Shabbat with both successes and failures. I had a vegan hotdog for dinner. They are plant based and tasted very much like kale and something that I couldn't quite identify. They tasted okay, but at 3 am, I woke up with really bad heartburn. I took some pepto and sat up in bed for a little bit half asleep until I could lay down and get a couple more hours in. I don't think I will be buying those again. I will stick to a spinich salad for my vegetable dinners.

I had no problem with the flow of events and rituals of Shabbat and had a lot of relaxation time reading and enjoying the fair. The laws of Shabbat say that a person can only go so far from his home (walking, no driving). The fair is practically in my backyard, so I walked to the fair today and enjoyed The Flying Cortes and the few shops that they had. I had steak tips for dinner with a slushie (blue raspberry), and enjoyed a stroll through the barns to see the animals. The horses even let me pet them this time! Most of the day was just relaxing and Torah study. It really was a good Shabbat.

The bad thing I did (which makes me a horrible parent) is lock the front door and forget to unlock it before going to sleep. My daughter, A2, apparently knocked for a while, but I was snoozing and didn't hear a thing. The phone screen woke me when she called. I went downstairs to let her in and fell right back to sleep. I feel horrible, even though she understood since it was after midnight when she made it home from work. In her five minutes home the next morning we talked (rare occasion) and she was surprisingly pleasant. She kept the light turned on and consented to wait to do laundry until after Shabbat ended (a big win for me!).

So other than being up for the worst mom of the year award, it was a great Shabbat!