Welcome to My Crazy, Mixed-up Jewish Life

I grew up in a pretty normal Jewish family. We went to temple on the high holidays, kept kosher in our home, and celebrated Chanukah and Passover. I went to two torturous years of Hebrew School before I whined to my mother enough that she stopped forcing me to go. I spent about a year in Jewish youth group and then that was that. While I identified with being Jewish, I married a non-Jew and decided that kosher wasn't for me. I could not deny my love for bacon and for cheeseburgers! We celebrated only Jewish holidays in the home, however, Christmas and Easter were big deals at the in-laws. Since there was nothing religious about those holidays for my in-laws, I really got into it. We would dress my kids up in their spring finest and parade them on the boardwalk on Easter Sunday, then go over to the grandparents for a big non-ham dinner. I must say, my in-laws were hugely understanding at that time and very, very respectful. When my daughter, Kimberly, reached first grade, I decided it was time to send HER to Hebrew School. A friend I met at Gymboree suggested the only synagogue in town, which was Conservative. So, I called the temple and the rabbi got on the phone! To me, a rabbi was an old guy with a yiddish accent and long white beard! And he never, NEVER spoke to you! Imagine my surprise when the rabbi actually spoke with me -- then invited me to come meet with him! When I met the rabbi, he was fairly young with a young son. I signed Kimberly up immediately. That day changed my life and hers forever. While I was not interested in my judaism when I was young, I now wanted to learn everything. Kimberly was loving Hebrew School and quickly made a nice group of friends. I was so excited to be part of this community, when it came Purim time, I decided to make Hamentaschen, the triangular cookie shaped like the hat the villain of the story wore, as a snack for Kimberly's Hebrew School class. Rabbi's wife was one of the teachers and asked me if the cookies were kosher. It literally never occurred to me! I told her that the ingredients were kosher but I did not keep kosher at home. She promptly told me to take them away. I was mortified! Seeing how embarassed I was, Rabbi's wife softened and apologized. I just didn't understand. Unbeknownst to me, I had a lot more of that coming up in my future, when my daughter decided to marry an Orthodox Jewish man! Back to the 1990's, every year Kimberly grew to love being Jewish more. She joined Kadima and did many sleepovers for Shabbat and other activities. As she got older, she was elected president of our Kadima chapter, then moved on to USY, United Synagogue Youth. At sleepover weekends for USY, all Jewish customs were strictly observed -- kosher, no work on Shabbat, modest dress. She loved it even more. She again ascended to President of USY. She even taught Hebrew School her senior year in High school. After taking a break to party big-time first semester of college, she eventually became involved in Hillel and the Jewish acapella singing group. She yet again was elected to offices, led Saturday morning conservative services, learned to read Torah and even learned how to cook, something I just couldn't get her to do under my tutelage! She went to Israel twice and seriously considered becoming a rabbi. However, the job prospects for a woman conservative rabbi were not good. Then she met HIM.