Last Shabbos

After I was called up for an aliya, my twenty-three month old son held my hand as we walked up to the bima. He let go of my hand just long enough for me to recite the brochos and then once again held onto my hand and stood patiently while the rabbi leined revi'i from Parshas Tazria-Metzora. When we sat back down, he sat on my lap quietly and played with my tzitzis for another fifteen minutes.

Later when we returned home from shul, my three year-old daughter fell asleep in my arms. I layed down on the couch in the basement and she and slept on my chest for a little more than an hour. She hadn't done this since the days when she was a baby when we first brought her home from the hospital.

It was these two small things that made it a wonderful Shabbos for me; one with memories that I will cherish.