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An island in Canada, a tick bite, a beach in Israel, a cup of coffee in our livingroom

By Ari | Jul 10, 09 07:59 AM

Shira and I just got back from a two week trip. First there was a week on Wasan Island with our friends from freeDimensional. fD was holding their annual retreat. Last year Shira and I went along as participants, and this year, we were involved as paid staff. We facilitated some sessions, offered one-on-one consultations, and are continuing to document the whole thing with photos, video, and Twitter and blogging. You can read my blog here, and my fD Tweets here. It was a beautiful experience, of course - I think being on Wasan is very, very special, and essential to fD's development. As we continue our follow-up coverage I'm sure the dreamy awesomeness will coalesce into something more coherent than I'm managing here, now.

After our week in Canada, we got on a plane to Tel Aviv - we were headed to Haifa, Israel, to attend Shira's grandmother's 80th birthday. On the plane, I felt so terrible I was worried there was something wrong with me. When we visited Albany a few weeks ago, I was bitten by a tick, but it wasn't until we were in Haifa that the symptoms of Lyme Disease showed themselves. I spent a couple of days with a fever over 100°F, (37.8°C) and then antibiotics saved me. Yay medical technology. And yay having doctors in the family! They don't even have Lyme Disease in Israel, so the hospital would have cost a lot for nothing. Instead, Shira's dad backed up my internet-aided diagnosis and helped me get medication. Did you know that many people who get Lyme Disease get a red target-shaped rash around the bite? It seriously looks like a target. It is very, very weird, but a very helpful signal, as if the tick is leaving you a note saying "this right here is why you feel like your whole body is broken." Thanks, tick.

So, I missed Margalit's birthday, but I hear it was awesome, involving a custom-designed and drawn Pictionary-style guessing game invented by our nephew Eli, and a tour of a botanical garden, and dancing. Shira's posting photos and videos on Flickr, so keep an eye on her photostream if you want to see the cuteness. The parts I was conscious for included a drive to Tel Aviv, where we had dinner at a restaurant on the beach, and then went to a modern dance performance that we all enjoyed. Shira and her brother Amit have been working on a film project with Margalit, and Shira took some footage of her one night, also on a beach.

Israel continues to mystify me. I see it usually as an outsider, and am aghast at the politics, the religious struggle, the violence. Going in and out of the country, the security checks frighten me, and when I'm there, the ever-present soldiers and machine guns scare me as well. But in Israel, there is a curious peace. Most of the time, it's just people living their lives. One can forget that the stakes are so high, that there are blind spots. Shira and I walked on a boardwalk and she climbed down some rocks to the beach, while I waited up top. I watched a woman walking her dog, not letting him stop to sniff and greet other dogs. A man rode by on his bike playing Arabic music on a boom box, and a group of kids shouted happily at him and danced as he passed. The lights of the city glittered along the shore. Peace, at that moment, in that place. We were all coexisting, enjoying the warm summer air and the sound of the sea.

Anyway, here we are back in Ithaca. I'm glad to be back. Sid and Zora and Snow got visits from Isaac, Marina, and Jeremy and Teresa while we were away, and when we came back we found them happy and chill, and our apartment clean and cozy. We're so blessed, with these friends, this community. Today we have another long day of catching up on client work and activist projects; I have a couple of phone meetings and some deadlines and am wondering how I'm going to get it all done. Right now, I'm enjoying a cup of coffee on the sofa with Snow. It's good to be back.

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