A Long and Winding Pentecost Story...

The spring of 1995 could qualify as one of the lowest points of my life. I had a job that I hated and that left me frustrated, I was deeply in debt and in so many ways, did not feel at home in my own skin.

Mostly I felt trapped. For all the time that I spent thrashing about, I would always be reminded that the shackles around my ankles remained locked.  Little did I know that the key was always at hand.

While I hated my job, I must say that I loved the people that worked for me. I remain friendly with many of them and thanks to Facebook, can keep up with whatever is going on in their lives. They were a balm to my spirit and encouraged me greatly, but there was no denying that I was a square peg in a round hole.

At that time I had been in touch via good old US Postal Service mail with my cousins, who I did not really know well at that time. When my mother died in September of 1991, my cousin Jeff reached out to me and his first correspondence changed all of our lives.

It is really something to look back to a time, not so long ago, when pen would make contact with paper and ink would flow and a kind of correspondence that we see less and less of, would make its way between people. Pen and paper letters do make for more thoughtful and reflective interchanges than what we see out here in the intertubes.

Jeff was (well technically still is!) a reform rabbi and at that time was at Temple Beth-El, in Rockford, Illinois. Now you are correct if you are thinking that this was not the most Jewish place in the world, but you would also be surprised how many Jews there were in Rockford and the surrounding areas. Jeff's considerable skills as a rabbi and religious reader helped to build a good sized congregation.

Jeff's wife Stephanie and two sons, James and Josh were as yet unknown to me, only through these letters. And in fact, to say I "knew" Jeff would be a stretch as I only remembered vaguely one childhood interchange.

In any case, our letters from late 1991 to 1995 had brought us closer together and I did long to meet Jeff and his family one day. Ah - letters, the pre-email and facebook days!

Our chance to meet was about to emerge and with it, a major life change for me.

And yes - there is a Pentecost element to all of this, as unlikely as it may seem.

To be continued..