Finding a home.  I have repeatedly said, I am not religious, I grew up on traditions set in our home by my mother and father.  They created their customs based on their upbringing.  As a young girl growing up on the Northwest side of Detroit, I believed I would marry someday and live just blocks from my parents and friends and raise my children in a similar manner, while adding some personal choices created by my husband.  However, planning is often just a dream as life is not static, constantly evolving.

Since my first marriage in 1971 to my divorce in 1978, and my second and last marriage in 1984, my search for a home (not a house) has been important to me.  I am very blessed that my husband Richard of thirty-four years (not counting tomorrow,) has remained by my side as I continued to look for that missing piece.  Every time I went up to Michigan to visit with my parents and extended family and friends I thought that the only place I would ever capture this feeling of mispacha was up North.

Fast forward to the past two weeks, the Jewish High Holidays, and the Hebrew anniversary of my mother’s passing.  What I have been searching for has been so close by that I am surprised I did not fall into if before.  I found a home (not sure I can afford the mortgage) at Temple Israel in Akron.  A special thank you to Rabbi Josh Brown who heard my plea for friends and family and put a plan in place.  On Yom Kippur the holiest day of our year I met not one (Elaine), but one multiplied and became, many new friends.  For the first time since 1971, I feel connected and I want to share the feeling of joy that fills my heart.

I need to also thank Candace Pollock, show host for “The Intentionality Gurus”  https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-intentionality-gurus-with-candace-po.  Candace has helped me find the GURU in me to explore what is important in my life and out my natural fears aside.  It is not easy walking into a room filled with strangers, as the song goes, “One is the Loneliest Number.”  However, not only did I walk in, but I reached out to Rabbi Brown asked for something I needed, a connection.  It is the understanding of intentionality that provided me with the courage, strength, and perspective to ask.  If we don’t ask we will not get!

I am not any different from many of you.  Too often in life, we wait for the right time to move forward and many of us miss that time as we are too busy waiting for something that has no specific time or place.  It takes stepping forward and asking, sharing, and being aware, and I am now walking through life with my eyes wide open and my heart prepared to allow connections.

I offer each of you to enjoy each day of life – allow yourself to be aware and feed your heart and soul as you find the place…

As Dorothy from the Wizard Oz says:  “There is no place like home…”