Two years ago during the Slice of Life challenge, I wrote about my friendship with Ariel, and the messages we wrote to each other in stolen moments of our days (my early morning, her commute).
Ariel is my best friend, and she lives in Israel. Our text exchanges are a bit different now.
“Only had one siren last night.”
“Had 3 sirens last night, soooo tired but doing our best.”
“First night we didn’t have any sirens in our area!!!”
“Going down for an alarm.”
There’s also some others that are different now. Those ultrasounds led to a beautiful baby boy being born in September 2024. His smile is everything and we call him little muffin.
I don’t really have words to describe all of the feelings that swirl around inside of me when I think about Ariel living over there.
I am Jewish, but I don’t agree with what the Israeli government and army are doing in Palestine or Iran. I am American, and I don’t agree with what this imposter is doing seemingly every-fucking-where in this world. I am fearful of what will happen in 2028, if elections will even be a possibility then. I am at a loss of what to do to help, to make a difference. I feel guilty for being privileged enough to block all of the war and death out, ignore the news, focus on my life. I feel grateful that I can do it too.
My best friend is in survival mode, just trying to be a mom of a toddler, navigate a career she’s growing out of, survive in a country at war, exist day-to-day while sirens and shelters interrupt her sleep and her waking hours equally.
And I am over here and I can do nothing but text with her and provide some escapism when she needs it.
What words do you put down for this?
Writing With Abandon 
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