My 2015 Reading Goal

I've always been a reader. When I was in elementary school we had an annual 600 minute reading challenge and whoever logged the full 10 hours got a free ticket to 6 Flags. I regularly doubled up the goal with 20 hours. I've Harry Potter books 4-7 within 48 hours of obtaining a copy (some withing 24 hours).

When I got married, and more-so when Yaeli was born, I stopped finding the time to read. It was very difficult for me and weighed on my mind constantly. If I found time to read I would get a few pages in and then fall asleep. I was reading at a rate of about 1 book every month or two, if that.

I found Goodreads.com around April last year and signed up for the reading challenge to push myself to finish 20 books in 2014. It came down to the final week of the year but I completed my goal. I couldn't have felt better. I decided that since I only started tracking my progress in late April, I could probably fit more books in for this year.

So, for 2015 I've set myself a goal of 30 books. It's a modest pace of 2.5 books per month. I think I should be able to hit that goal, and in fact I've already finished 3 and January isn't over yet. I do have some very long books on my list so I'm not getting too cocky about my progress.

What I really love, though, is that having this challenge is pushing me to put my phone away on the bus and instead of wasting my time on FaceBook for 40 minutes (twice a day), I'm spending that time reading a book. I've finally become happy and comfortable with the amount of time I have to read and I'm really looking forward to not just reaching my goal but of hopefully overshooting it.

The Importance of Every Encounter

In case you haven't heard of the app called Timehop, It's a nifty little app that looks back at your history on connected social mediums (FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram...) and every day it shows you your posts from that day in history. For me it's usually pictures of my kids, tales about sporting events, or something to do with Rivkah. Nothing that's ever really made me stop and think.

Today, my brother Matty posted this picture:

At a glance, this is just a reminder that a year ago he was in Israel for the first time and experiencing what the country had to offer. However, if you know Matty, you know that this is the night he met his now-wife Zoe, in a chance encounter.

When I saw this post I couldn't help but think about how often we meet new people, or even interact with people we are familiar with, and just have no clue what kind of impact we will have on the other person. If we could each look a year ahead at our Timehops and see what has happened in the year to come, how might we approach our everyday interactions with other people? Will the passenger I cut in front of to get onto a bus end up being a coworker some day? In Matty's case, will the person he had a chance encounter with in a bar thousands of miles away from home end up being his wife? What if he'd said something that wasn't so nice? How different could his year and his life have been?

Matty was given a rare blessing to be reminded a year later of a chance encounter from the past. Hopefully it can remind all of us to think twice when we talk to others and to think about what your actions now might effect down the line.

A Secret Whispered, A Dream Realized

One year ago, on a freezing cold New Years Eve in Downtown Pittsburgh, Rivkah and I were spending the evening taking in the new year with two of our best friends. We went to several shows, including a great performance from River City Brass, our first trip to the Arcade Comedy Theater, a browse through Amazing Books, and drinks at the Fairmont Hotel. We even got to see Marc-Andre Fleury, who did NOT seem to appreciate that I recognized him (and maybe chased him a little to wish him a happy New Year).

At around 11:50, as the countdown ticked closer to midnight, and the thermometer ticked closer to zero Fahrenheit, I turned to Rivkah and we had the following whispered conversation:

Me: Should we tell them?
Rivkah: Maybe. We haven't even really decided 100% yet.
Me: I think it's the right time. It feels like the right time.
Rivkah: Ok, let's tell them.

We turned back to our friends, and told them something we hadn't told to another human being. Not even our parents. We told them that we were planning to make aliyah in 2014. We aren't exactly sure when, maybe September or October, maybe earlier, but one way or another by the end of 2014 we would hopefully be living in the holy land of Israel.

We celebrated, brought in the new year together, and the next day I opened up a profile with Nefesh B'Nefesh. The rest, as they say, is history. On July first, six months later to the day, we landed in Israel and became full blown citizens of this wonderful country. We've had our ups and downs, and we haven't yet transferred our drivers licenses so there's still plenty of bureaucracy left ahead of us, but now, one year later and six months after landing, I feel like we made the best decision of our lives.

Shana Tovah. I wish all of you a successful year and you should be able to achieve the goals you set for yourself.