A Day At the Mall During Wartime

August 3, 2006 - 10:29 PM by Allison

RR took her kids to the Ra’anana mall today. She’s not going back anytime soon.

So I took the kids to the mall this afternoon.

What a nightmare.

The place was teeming with humanity, everyone desperately seeking a way to fill up those long summer hours. Remind me not to go back to that place until after school starts.

Speaking of school, we passed by display after display of school supplies for sale. I had 2 simultaneous thoughts:

1. Wow, only one month til school starts!

2. But there’s still a WHOLE MONTH til school starts!

The outing had a good ending, though. Remember before Pesach I wrote about the kids who stood at the supermarket entrance, collecting food for the poor? Well, today we were greeted by volunteers who were collecting for our soldiers. As in the last food drive, they were teenagers (good for them!) who, while not yet old enough to serve in the army, were certainly doing their part. They were asking shoppers to buy various toiletries and snacks and then drop them in the waiting shopping carts on their way out of the store.

At that moment, I wished like never before that I could snap my fingers, become a billionaire, and buy every bottle of shampoo, bar of soap, razor, bag of potato chips, box of chocolates, etc. and hand it to those kids so that our soldiers, while fighting to keep the rest of us safe, could at least have a few creature comforts.

Still, my kids and I bought a nice assortment. I explained to them why we were buying these things and let them pick out a few items themselves.

I only wish I could do more to help our brave boys. Let’s just hope they decimate our enemy as quickly as possible and then come home.