Friday Feast

This week's questions brought to you by Friday's Feast:

Appetizer
Tell about a time when you had to be brave.

A decade ago, I hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon with a friend and we stayed over at Phantom Ranch. During the night, I became extremely ill and in the morning, after we met up with our other friends who'd rafted down the Colorado River from Page, AZ, I found that I was unable to even think about hiking out that day. My friends decided to hike out anyway and left me at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. THIS IS A TRUE STORY!!!!! Now, I wasn't dying or anything, but I was pretty ill. I made some new friends while I was recouperating that afternoon and evening at Phantom Ranch and I hiked out with them the following day. At the time, I just did what I had to do to get back up to the South Rim. In retrospect, however, I think it took a lot of bravery to actually do it and not let my illness or my extreme disappointment in and anger at my friends ruin the experience for me.


Soup
Which upcoming movie are you excited about seeing?

I'm anxiously awaiting Harry Potter 5: The Order of the Phoenix!!! The trailers that have been released look great! Also excited about Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End. We're going to see at least a couple movies this summer at a drive-in, so that will make them even more fun!

Salad
Name an item you try to always have on hand.

A cup of coffee and a water bottle! Also, pen and paper!

Main Course
Imagine the most relaxing room you can think of. Now describe it!

A cabana-style room on a tropical beach, with the gauzy white curtains blowing in the warm breeze. There's not much in the room except maybe a few hanging plants and a massage table in the middle. Soft music is playing from speakers hidden in the ceiling and I can hear the gentle lapping of the waves. Tropical birds are chirping and singing amongst the rustling fronds of the palm trees. Ahhhhhhh......

Dessert
On a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being highest), how spiritual or religious are you?

Hmmmm...... This is a tricky question for me. My affiliation is Reform Judaism. I was brought up in a synagogue affiliated with the Conservative Movement, but in a non-religious, very assimilated household. My husband is Roman Catholic, but the children are Reform Jews like me. I light Friday night Shabbat candles, attend services occasionally and observe the holidays. I cook traditionally Ashkenazic Jewish foods (like kugel, borscht, teiglach, hamentashen, matzo brei, kneidlach, etc....). I have made it a point to give my children a good early education in Judaism by sending them to Sunday School as soon as they were old enough (age 4 at our synagogue) and also sending them to a Jewish Nursery School three mornings a week. So far, you would think that I would score a very high number on that question, wouldn't you?

Despite all of the above, however, I don't consider myself particularly "religious", per se. I know that there can be very many definitions of "religious" or "spiritual", but under my personal definitions of those terms, I don't really feel that they apply to me. I have to admit to not believing in G-d or a "higher power". When I am at services, I'm not actually "praying". I feel more like I'm reaffirming my commitment to being a good person and leading a good life and trying to make the world a better place.

So, where does that leave me? I suppose I'd best describe myself as a Humanist Jew. I guess I should take the average of the two side of my personal religious coin and just say that I'm a FIVE and let the pieces fall where they may.