Reverent explorations

It's been a day of holidays and learning.

Perhaps I should start last night, where I ate with friends to celebrate the Lunar New Year. We then hung out and talked until the wee hours.

This morning, I started at Rodef Shalom helping to celebrate the beginning of Chodesh Adar and the 94th birthday of a member of the community. Rodef always offers a warm welcome, and I was reinvigorated by the discussions, readings, and songs on mindfulness, personal gifts or blessings, and acceptance.

Following services, I picked up my friends and we drove out of town to eat at a really great south Indian restaurant (udupi cafe -- soooooo delicious my belly was smiling for hours afterward). We followed this up with a walk through the Hindu temples (we ate too much), where Sudhanshu attempted to distill the complexities of the religion down into bite-sized, western pieces for us. Though the photo may seem irreverent at first glance, I assure you we were respectful and curious first and foremost.

If this were not enough, I was sucked into the trap of shopping (and found some really cute clothes! For work..) which resulted in my late arrival to the VFW where I learned to ceili with an old conference friend. The last dance was for yet another religious celebration- Imbolc, the beginning of spring. We danced around an imaginary fire but left the decisions on spring weather to Punxsutawney Phil.

Happy February 1st!! Don't let it deceive you, beneath that snow, there's a lot to celebrate.