Today

I woke up early and composed an apology letter to Adi. I guess it did the trick because when he finally woke up he came to me smiling with hugs and kisses. We have to face this together, we agreed.

And it's natural to crack. J. called from Jerusalem today where she'd sought refugee at a friends. As soon as her husband had taken the kids to the zoo and left her at Hebrew U. for the day to work, she admited to me that she burst into tears. "It was probably just that I'd been holding it in, being strong in front of the kids and I could finally let it go. It was good."

I must note that for those of us who live in Haifa, there's a certain irony to the fact that friends in Jerusalem and Haifa are calling to see if we're OK. Traditionally, it is we who call them after suicide bombers attack. And now they are offering us refuge!
Before leaving Haifa we had a call from Jared, our very kind wedding photographer who lives in Jerusalem. And Graham in Tel Aviv was one of the first to call and offer us a place to stay.

Work concentration was not too high today, though I tried. I did make some progress clearing out backlogged emails in the morning.

Adi went to Haifa to see his parents and pick up stuff from home and check on the cat. We made detailed lists, room by room, so as to minimize the time he'd need to spend in the apartment.
By the time he should have reached his parents, he hadn't called. I called him, no answer. I tired his mother who told me he was stuck with car trouble in Issifiya on the way.

Meanwhile Elah came home and we made lunch. We were both very hungry, me from Cholent, she from teaching dance all morning. We heard a boom in the distance. Not a plane breaking the sound barrier boom, but yes, a katyusha boom. We looked out over the balcony. Nothing. Not for a few minutes anyway. Then we could clearly make out a triangle of thick grey smoke that hadn't been there before.

How did it feel? Not as scary as you might think.
"You know," I said to Elah as we continued to plow through lunch, "after having seen so many on TV, it's kind of familiar." She agreed and we turned on the TV, as much for confirmation as to pinpoint the exact location. It turned out to be at Ramat Ishay.