Since the beginning of this war, my home in Tekoa has not been under attack like other parts of the country. Here is a list (without looking back) of memorable moments in the shelter.
1. In October of 2023, my husband was working at a counter terrorism training facility and having to go to work everyday. School was cancelled in the begining, so I was home with the girls. One day, there were jets roaring so low and loud that I grabbed the girls and ran to the safe room. The room shuddered from the rumbling in the skies. No sirens. Just a feeling that I needed to run.
2. In that same month, my husband experienced sirens and rocket fire while at work.
3. My mom had surgery at a local hospital in those early months. My sister accompanied her. While in surgery, there were sirens in Jerusalem and a rocket even landed near Hadassah hospital. The hospitals are equipped for war and all surgeries (at least at the time) were taking place on secure floors, so no need to run to a safe room.
4. The Islamic Republic's barrage of missiles, rockets, and drones across the entirety of Israel in April 2024. At the time, Loowan was not going to sleep quietly and it was causing sleeping issues in the girls room. So Loowan's crib had been moved into the living room. The sirens wailed and I had to grab the baby before running to the shelter. Fortunately Siikwan slept through the entire thing, but Loowan thought it was play time and was up for the following 4 hours. This was one of the scariest nights of my life. We had gone to sleep early that night and had no idea that an attack was imminent. Being awoken to non stop sirens for 30 minutes was terrifying.
5. Another 30 minute barrage of missiles, rockets, and drones by the Islamic Republic. This one was earlier in the night than the rest. The girls were still up and we still had friends over. All 6 of us (and the dog of course) ran into the safe room. This terrified Siikwan. We put cartoons on the computer screens and attempted to distract the girls from the sirens and booms. My heart was beating so loudly I could barely think straight. My hands shaking ever so slightly while trying to calm my breathing.
6. Hanukkah 2024 the Houthi terrorist pirates launched a barrage of missiles that had us running to the shelter at 2am. Siikwan had snuck into our bed that night, so we had to wake her and bring her to the other room. Obviously she had a hard time going back to sleep after that.
7. Last night the Houthis launched another barrage that had us running to the shelter again at 4am. I woke up gasping for air from being startled awake and called out to my husband to wake up. Fortunately the girls slept through it and my husband was able to go back to sleep after a late night at work. That left me up, and wide awake at 4am.
So there's a rundown that generally happens when sirens wail.
1. We get ourselves to a safe space. Fortunately that's usually the girl's bedroom.
2. We check on our loved ones in Israel.
3. We tell our family back in America that we're ok.
4. We check the news.
5. We chat with our relatives in and out of Israel a bit more on WhatsApp reassuring that we're ok. Then post about it on social media.
6. We attempt to return to usual after waiting the allotted 10 minutes (in case shrapnel is falling).
I am fortunate compared to thousands of others across the country. I can still remember each and every siren and how I responded. So many others have experienced so many that they've lost count. It's become a wake up alarm in the morning. A normalcy even that should never be normalized. A reality that has driven people from their homes and communities. A trauma deeply engrained into our country's psyche.
455 days of war.
Thousands of rockets, missiles, and drones.
Yet we continue to live, love, laugh and cry.
That is our Jewish resiliencey.
Am Yisrael Chai ✡️🇮🇱
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