An oc some of you will know! Omer!!

He's a cheeky little farmland cryptid!

Chagim in your mirror are closer than they appear.

DON'T PANIC.

The first time I celebrated Pesach was a seder held by the campus Hillel. 

For many years, my only practice was going over to a friend's house for Shabbat eventing. 

For a year or two before the COVID pandemic started, my partner and I had been going to a fertility clinic. We're getting older, and it wasn't happening naturally. In late 2020, we became parents for the first time.   

That was a time of reflection for me. During this pandemic shutdown and those first months of motherhood, I thought about what I wanted to pass on: what traditions should I teach?

As much as I try to use reason, I often go on emotion. I went back to something beautiful, lighting the Shabbat candles. I looked up the local synagogues and made plans to go. That was a week or so before Purim. That year, by Pesach, I was learning everything I had never been taught about Judaism.   

One of those things was counting the Omer. What a simple act it was! Forty-nine days of minimal daily practice when I didn't even know how to pray my nightly prayers. I could recite the blessing and count the Omer.   

When you see my posts about the Omer, it's not just pretty. It's not just "whatever Jewish thing is current". It's me remembering my very shallow roots. 

it's almost pesax, which means it's almost time to count the omer! if you run a discord server, and you'd like a little bot friend to remind you about the omer count for the day... please check out omerbot!