How do you cope?

Thank God, so far, the war hasn't touched me. I don't have any relatives in the IDF, and as far as I know, none of my friends have had to report for duty. Some of my neighbors have been called up, but for the most part, they're older men, in reserve and they're filling in for the younger soldiers who have been moved to the front.

I'd like it to stay that way, thank you very much.

Last week, I signed up with a couple placement agencies, offering to allow evacuees live with us. Earlier today I received a phonecall from one of the organizations and they said they'll be back in touch.

According to the Jerusalem Post, estimates have this war going on for another 10 days or so, because that's when Hizballah runs out of munitions. So far, they've only been lobbing the shorter range Kaytushas. From the maps that I've seen, we seem to be on the far limit of what their long range missiles can get to. Yes, we're about due east of Tel Aviv. But we're a much more insignificant target. I WOULD say that also being surrounded by Arab villages offers some protection, but I've read about some of the misfires from Lebanon.

And that gets us to my point. How do I cope? I just don't read the news all that often. I head over to the Jerusalem Post and Arutz7 once, maybe twice a day. I figure if something major was happening, someone would let me know.

I've been living in Israel now for 9 years. For at least 6 of those, I've been surrounded by the escalated violence of the second Intifada. I missed Gulf War Part I, but I've been here for the sequel. Both my children and I have gas masks and yes, we know where they are (although they're going to have to be renewed soon). So Lebanon Part Deux is not a new experience for me. That's not to say it doesn't terrify me.


We call my MIL basically every day, or she calls us (isn't VoIP great?). She of course wants us to move back. And she lets us know it. That's not to say my parents don't want us safe... it's just that they've had 6 years longer to deal with the fact that their child has chosen to live in Eretz Yisrael and right now it happens to be a bit more... well... tense.


I spoke to my MIL yesterday via IM. She jokingly said that she's going to send a professional team here to kidnap us back to the US.


At least I think she was joking.