Going to Sam's?

So Sam invited me to a family dinner this coming Friday. I said sure, why not. I don’t have anything planned yet. I’ve heard his mom is a good cook. And I’m always game for free food. I hope it will be a chill evening : /

The talk..

So I am walking around my college campus, hanging out with friends. Boy do I love being a senior. Yes it is Friday and I should be getting ready for Shabbas. I am sure I will be getting the pre-Shabbat call from mom momentarily, telling me to keep my eyes pealed for a nice Jewish boy at Shul tonight. Sorry mom. I have a slightly different agenda in mind; I really want to go out.

I did, at one time, try to appease her and TRY to look for a nice mensch at Hillel with the rest of my friends. But I found that tiring. Did you know that all of the boys that go to Hillel are friends? It really was not a good cycle for me.

Ring ring! Uh oh. There goes my phone. "Good Shabbos Mom. Yes. No. No, mom I have not found a husband yet. Ughhh. No, please do NOT let Aunt Lisa set me up." Here we go again. "So mom, how was your day?" You probably could have guessed that she didn’t bother to answer my question with more than one word plus thank you honey. "No, I do not want to see your friend's, cousin's son, Larry. He sounds like a dweeb. Okay mom, I will talk to you later, have a good weekend. I love you too."

Finally, it is time to go out. My friends, Rachel and Tamar, walked to my place to get ready. We all went through very similar experiences throughout college. Well, not exactly, but we all came to the same conclusion: 'be happy now, find a guy later.'

I mean Syracuse is only filled with so many men. Chances are we will each find a good one, eventually. If he is Jewish, that’s great for mom. But if he is not studying medicine, law, or business, then, according to Jewish law, I must kick him to the curb.

It has always been the same dilemma: listen to my family, or do what I want?

Post- Bar

I just had my Bar Mitzvah. You know, the time when I am supposedly becoming a 'man.' The time when everybody is so proud of me. At least my parents, and Bubbie and Zadie and all the other old folks are proud of me. Afterall, I did do a good job reading from the Torah, if I may say so myself. But to be honest, I have never felt so unsure of myself. Oh joy. Hell, the party was the talk of the class for about a day, if that. But seriously, I was hoping to gain more attention, preferably from people in MY generation.

I have been the class geek for as long as I can remember. I rarely associate with the ‘in crowd’ other than when one of them tries to use me. But I saw my Bar Mitzvah as my only hope for a breakthrough. You know, 'becoming a man', being able to start new and fresh, not being judged. But most of all, I was hoping to attract the attention of the prettiest girl in school. But nahh. That was just wishful thinking. All I got from Sara was 'Mazel Tov Sam. We had a great time this weekend.' I know she was just being polite. She is with Bobby, the school jock who erks my nerves and picks on me to no end. How could she even talk to a boy like him?!

Sara is the most beautiful girl in the class. And of course she is Jewish. She always wears her light brown hair in a braid and she is always writing in her journal. I wonder what she writes about in there. Probably Bobby. He is the most annoying kid on the face of the earth. If I had the baseball team to back me up I would totally get back at him. But I don't. I have the cross-country team. Hey, at least I am good at something

I am pretty tight with the dudes on the cross-country team. I wonder what they thought about my Bar Mitzvah and what they think of Bobby. They are a bunch of Italians, so I am sure they loved the food and dancing. Maybe I will invite them to dinner at my house; hopefully one of them has a sister I can take to the 8th grade dinner-dance. I seriously have to stop thinking about Sara.