Mann tracht und Gott lacht – man plans and God laughs. It’s been the motto of the Covid years. How many times have we had plans disrupted, changed, and frustrated by the ubiquitous virus? This trip would prove to be no exception to the rule that reigned over 2020 and early 2021.
Over the last eighteen months, my wife had to cancel a trip to visit our children and my son’s school locked down completely, preventing him from visiting us, while my daughter’s school contacted us in a virtual panic in the spring of 2020, trying to send all students home. As vaccination rates rose, we thought that we would actually be able to celebrate their graduations in person.
Life is rarely that straightforward. First, we found out that our daughter’s boarding school was holding its graduation on June 9. After repeated inquiries, we found that our son’s school wouldn’t hold its ceremony until July 1. We had planned on a two week stay, but God laughed and said rearrange your lives for about a month.
Then, there was the issue of Gaza and thousands of missiles raining down over Israel. Would the schools cancel ceremonies? Would airlines refuse to fly? Would changes in the lives of everyday Israelis impact the availability of Airbnb locations. We did have one Airbnb cancelation due to changed plans, but otherwise, the other issues turned out to be non-factors.
And then, there was a significant bump in the road, health. My wife’s lower body ballooned outward with severe edema, so severe that her doctor sent her directly to the hospital. While there, she lost 30 pounds of fluid overnight, but learned that she had compression fractures in her spine. We adjusted our plans for a less vigorous trip. Less than a week later, she was back in the hospital. The diuretics had worked too well and decimated her potassium and phosphorus levels, leaving her very weak, but the trip was still possible. Unrelenting back pain revealed more compression fractures and she realized that she simply couldn’t make the trip.
On a separate track, there was yet another plan that could potentially disrupt my now soli trip, an entry permit from the Israeli government. I had sent in the application with all the appropriate documentation – birth certificates with apostilles, wedding license, my passport information, my children’s passport information and proof of Covid vaccination. A week passed. I sent a follow-up email which generated an automatic response informing me that they wouldn’t respond to emails. I called the consulate and the voice-mail let me know that they wouldn’t be responding to phone calls. I did learn from an email, that a first degree relative in Israel could go to a Population and Immigration Authority office and receive the appropriate document. We had my daughter try and call. Day after day, she called and couldn’t get through. Finally on the day before I was due to leave, at 11 pm her time, we called her and asked her to just show up at the office. It turned out someone in her school administration knew someone at the office and made sure my daughter could go in and get the permission slip. At three am, my time, I got the call from her that she was texting my the permit as an attachment. I finally had the last roadblock lifted. At least I would be able to go.
This isn’t the trip I planned. This isn’t even the second, third, or fourth variation of that trip. But it is my trip now. Welcome to the journey I’m taking, exploring what was once familiar, what us completely new, and what I will be able to see and understand through the eyes and experiences of my children.
My Journey to Israel: Connections and Disruptions 