While we were moving to an undisclosed location near the Pentagon, stuff was happening in the real world.

While Mr. B and I are losing our minds/moving to Pentagon City, Israel is honoring Memorial Day and Independence Day and I didn’t even have time to stop and think about it. Luckily, my friend and fellow blogger Benji Lovitt has his annual list of things he loves about Israel.

Memorial Day in Israel is a billion times more  amazing than in the United States,  and it makes me miss the country intensely.

The siren to remember Holocaust victims and those who have died in Israel’s wars sounds at 11:00 a.m. for two minutes everywhere across Israel and everyone stops, no matter where they are, to remember.

The first time I went through it, I was on a bus trip with March of the Living which I went on to get away from a bad breakup, and we were on our way to the Dead Sea.  Everyone got out of the tour bus and the siren overcame us as all of the feelings we felt the week before in Auschwitz and which we thought we wiped from our memories the minute our plane landed in Israel, came flooding out again.  The next day, Israel’s Independence Day, we ate tons of barbecue and got drunk on Golani wine near the Syrian border.  That’s how Israel rolls.

Happy Independence Day, Israel.  You’re not perfect. You’re hot, messy, crowded, and really, really complicated.  But I still love you.   Grow big and strong and (mentally) healthy and eat your vegetables.  I’ll be back soon.