Shoosha’s favorite toy at the moment is a plastic bag scrunched up into a ball. It makes nice rustling, plastic bag-y noises as she plays.

Today I’m going to another funeral, the fourth in three weeks. All four, the burials of parents of friends - three mothers and a father. It seems I’ve reached a certain age. Four friends, none of whom know each other, every one an important part of my life, in a different way, symbolizing another side of myself.

It is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting; for that is the end of every man, and a living one should take it to heart.

Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) 7, 2 (From the new translation of the Holy Scriptures according to the traditional Hebrew text).

Today’s funeral, that of D, Sh’s mother, hits me hardest, for she too, and not just her daughter, has a special place in my heart.