From Hallie's Desk
Having a summer birthday, in a biased perspective, was always the best. There were pool parties, ice cream cake, camp celebrations and being surrounded by your closest friends. An annual birthday tradition, originating from spending most of my birthdays by Lake Burton in Clayton, Georgia, was renting out a pontoon boat with friends and family to relax, celebrate, and sometimes even going tubing. We never went too fast as pontoons' motors were never too impressive. Two days ago, on my birthday, I had to resort to other means of aquatic entertainment. Without a pool or lake, I took out the childhood sprinklers from the woodshed. The stimulation of running through sprinklers invoked memories of childhood, giddiness, and leisure. I have been incredibly proud this summer seeing parents develop and implement full “summer-camp”curricula, designing daily calendars and entertaining their children for weeks on end through activities such as rainbow week, dinosaur days, and anything in between. Exhausting as these days may be, I have heard parents talk about the joy and laughter it brings them regularly. We are taught that “childhood is a garland of roses” and that “the very breath of children is free of sin (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 152, 119.)" This week I encourage you all to do something that brings back a childhood memory and see how it makes you feel.
In Health,
Hallie Chandler,
Director of Community Engagement
