Letting go...

"Letting go" means lots of things.

One is letting go of your kids and letting them get on with their lives and truly grow up. This afternoon/evening I met two of mine for for late lunch and the another for early dinner. All of my kids are grown, independent adults, so I have to make dates and similar arrangements with those who don't get home much.

There's another, very different "Letting go." It is recognizing that try as hard as we can, we're not in charge of our lives. G-d is. G-d is manipulating things in ways we can never guess.

I have found life to be easier, more pleasant, ever since I stopped trying to control everything. Sometimes it's still a great effort for me to relax and just enjoy the surprises. Sometimes it's rather banal and sometimes rather "other-worldly."

My life may seem strange to some, since I strongly supplement public transportation with hitch hiking. I guess it's something very Israeli, or more exactly very much something that's only accepted in the "yishuvim" of YESHA.

Today (Wednesday) is my day off from work. It's also the day of the week when I go swimming in Neve Yaakov, northern Jerusalem. I hitch to the pool, or at least to Jerusalem, where I take a bus or cab. I never know how or with whom I'll be traveling. A couple of weeks ago, I went down the the "stop" with a friend, since we had planned on going together. This can be problematic, since it required that we find a ride for two. Just as we got there, a car came by; not only was there room for both of us, it was a friend going to the pool!

Today, I waited along, and who should come by to give me a ride but my next door neighbor! I could have folded the laundry then gone with her. Next week I'll call first. After swimming, while getting dressed, I spoke to another friend in the locker room. I asked her for a ride, just to a bus stop would be enough. She said fine, and said she had to pick something up in Pisgat Zeev, the next neighborhood. It ended up that it was next to a store I had wanted to go into to pick up something for another friend. Just perfect.

When you let go, there's always a chance that you'll get what you need without all that anxiety!

So enjoy life.