Homeward Bound

"Homeward bound
I wish I was
Homeward bound" - Simon and Garfunkel

Today's the day! Ben is coming home today!

He's been learning in Israel since late August, and is coming back for Pesach break - plus a score of appointments and other obligations we squeezed in for him during the upcoming couple of weeks.

We haven't seen him in over seven months. Has it really been that long? What will it be like this afternoon, seeing him again after so much time? How much has must have changed and matured over all this time, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually! But he'll still - will always - be my little boy, albeit a head taller than his old man.

We have some well-meaning (I charitably hope) acquaintances who, when we discussed Ben's plans and how we couldn't wait for this day, responded with varying degrees of disapproval and even scorn. "Why are you 'letting' him come home for Pesach?? How can you deprive him of the 'full Israel experience'??", they would say.

Beyond MYOB, how can I respond to such people? Can they possibly know how difficult, how wrenching it was for us, as bereaved parents, to even allow another child out of our sight, let alone so very far away, in the first place? God willing, may they never understand our world. Or know why the simple, normal possibility of sending a child away for just a little while, and then having him return, is so strange and bittersweet to us.

Welcome back, Ben. We missed you more than we can say, or will ever truly let you know.