Shana Tova! Happy New Year! Captain lucked out that Rosh Hashanah fell on the weekend. Off to children’s services we went.

When it’s on a weekday, it’s work like usual for Captain. He’s saving his time off for when he really needs it, like hopefully in a few weeks to dress up as Shabbat Shark.

He is a very committed employee. A month ago when we got a tornado warning, he went into the basement with us. He watched us get settled with a movie and declared,

“I don’t have time for this.” And went back to work above ground.

I wasn’t sure how to feel. I didn’t want to be in the basement with a Disney movie either, but it would be a bummer to die. I thought about Captain: There’s his life insurance and hopefully some sort of recognition for dying in the line of duty for his IT job.

There was no tornado. Playtime resumed above ground and Captain probably wished for another imminent natural disaster.

Rosh Hashanah morning we walk into the sanctuary, I tell BB she can pick where we sit. She heads straight for the front center row.

I don’t go to synagogue for the people watching or the daydreaming, but I don’t mind a little bit of both. There’s none of that to be done from the front row.

RB declines to sit with us. She sees her Hebrew school teacher several rows back and makes a beeline for her. Smart kid.

BB starts to sag. She says she’s too tired to stand. She’s yawning. Then her head is on my lap. Captain has been casing the joint and whispers to me,

“We’re on the live feed.”

He points out several cameras trained on the front of the sanctuary. I get BB to sit up. RB has no inclination to sit with us ever again. Maybe I should move back to her.

I glance at BB. Half her finger has disappeared up her nose.

WHY did we sit in the front? I manage to recover her finger, only for it to disappear several more times.

The saving grace is that they didn’t hand out the plastic toy shofars that they have in the past. Imagine giving a room full of young families loud plastic horns and then somehow hoping the small children only blow them when they’re told it’s ok.

It was a lovely service and there’s a live feed to prove it. Next up? Yom Kippur on Monday. Captain’s work commitment exempts him from the front row. Middle aisle is my goal and RB can fend for herself.