Thursday, July 9, 2009

"Halakhic lines may have been blurred, but not crossed."

And we're back.

It has been several months since I have posted to my blog. I apologize. Allow me to explain.

Firstly, I have been too busy to write because of the economy. I've been working long days and I have not had the time to devote to this important endeavor.

Secondly, and more significantly, I have not written lately because our lives have become more normal as we have all adjusted.

Frankly, I have been unwilling to write for fear of boring my readers.

So here is an update as to what has been going on.

The last time I wrote about my family was during Sukkoth. Since then, we spent two family vacations together. We spent winter vacation in Florida and for Pesach, we were all together in our home. During both "family" times, everyone, the parents and the siblings were calm and quite content. We had many discussions around the table ranging from family issues, politics, to halkha.
We laughed, we cried. We went through the whole range of emotions.

All is not as it should be, but we are moving forward, strong in the knowledge that our children are making adjustments in their lives.

A few things for us to ponder.............

My son approached us while we were in Florida with the proposition that since we would probably not be making him a large wedding, would we be amenable to the idea of helping him pay for a surrogate birth. He wants to have a family. My wife responded to him that just as she would be there to help our daughters after they give birth to their children she hopes to be able to do the same for him after he brings his baby home.

So, we are moving forward, hoping for the best.

We still face painful days, but we get through them. Recently, someone came into my wife's shop and told her that everyone in our community now knows that our son is gay.

So he is out.

This person continued the conversation by telling my wife what a wonderful person our son is and that she understands what we are going through because her brother is gay. The unfortunate thing is that he could never adjust to his reality and has lived a life hidden and depressed.

Not for us.

Be well.

SD

PS. The quote? There is a scandal in our community and it centers around our rabbi. The same person who told us that people should not judge our son. The quote is what he said to the congregation.