Counting of the Omer 5771 - Day 35 - Look Both Ways Before You Cross

Day two (aka 35) of getting our story together is a day of getting ready to leave the house. We live across from a Jr. High School. It has its moments. But every school day the crossing guards are there. First thing they do is to change our two way street to a one way street. Then they change the alley signs, then they put up temporary blockades for people who don't understand all the other indications. Then with the appropriate neon colored vests they get ready to protect and serve. It happens twice a day and no matter the weather they are there. In spite of all these careful preparations, in spite of the yelling and jumping up and down, the tickets issued there are still people who don't pay attention. So the ultimate message is no matter the precautions we still have to teach 'look both ways before you cross.'

Once a year when my brother was the 'patrol boy' and my mom was the 'patrol boy's mother' they had a luncheon to honor both mothers and patrol children and his job needed to be tended. I was the 'patrol boy' for a day. It was quite an honor. I took it very seriously and learned an important lesson. One - the patrol boy's belt was very cool. Two - people listen to you if you're wearing the right uniform. Three - there is more to looking both ways than to the right and the left. The important lesson is remembering the looking inside and remembering the lessons we were taught while learning to walk. The kids who were left untended on the streets didn't need us looking for them, they looked inside and remembered that lesson and more. Then before they leapt into the fray they got it themselves because the lesson was well learned. We hope.

What does this have to do with our story? The rules about how we live are engrained in us and hard to forget or ignore. The rule givers are the people we are remembering today and the ways they taught us whether related or not are good to honor on this 35th day of the Counting of the Omer. The older I get the longer I look both ways. I can hear the voices all the way from the desert telling me and mine to look out for the dinosaurs, the camels, the model T Fords and those other distractions.

Do not let us be distracted but cross carefully. Look both ways please!

marilyn, have you seen my patrol belt?