Favorite Number

written last night: Tonight I think I can count three seconds before I pass out from exhaustion. Long hours driving with late Seder nights and kids coming into our bed crying were one thing. An overly ambitious "vacation" day today was what did me in. [fall into sleep]

written today about yesterday: In three days, we drove 5 hours to Michigan, had 2 Seders, moved from the original hotel that was filthy and falling apart to a nice clean hotel, and drove back to Chicago. The earliest I got to sleep each of those three nights was midnight, and as is normal on family road trips I didn't get any quiet time alone, not even in the bathroom folks. After a fun filled family fest and a relatively quiet late late night drive home, I woke up in my own bed. With an out-of-town friend visiting Chicago and no Gan for the girls, I decided to take everyone to a museum. Decisions made on lack of sleep don't usually turn out well. Nevertheless, we made it a full day, beyond what I can usually expect of myself. We started at the Museum of Science and Industry and watched the chickies hatch, put on three diapers for nap time in the car ride to pick Haley up from school in Indiana (and back), then went to Navy Pier. Haley wanted and got a hair wrap and the little girls found sparkly little purses that I was happy to get as a souvenir. Three purses - one pink, one purple, one black. We had lunch in the car, a noise melt down in the museum, one minor accident in the store. It was six pm by the time we got home, all cranky and hungry. The three little girls were in bed by eight, and by then I could barely move. I did manage to say the bracha and count the third day of the Omer.

"Today is the third night of the Omer", and as you know, I'm always counting threes. It has become my number. If I ever played a team sport (those of you who know me well are laughing now) I would have the number three on my jersey. Even though I have four girls, the triplet three trumps everything. You've heard this before, I've thought it before, these three souls leave an imprint of three on everything in my world. I'll leave it at that for now. The third day of the Omer is ending and Shabbat is coming soon. I pray that Shabbat brings us rest we all need after an exhausting week - and that once the tiredness recedes we will see the beauty of the holiday experience.