Torah

In 2019, one of our kids got sick with something that was difficult to diagnose. After weeks of doctor visits, trips to the ER, and a hospital stay, we got a diagnosis of exclusion, which means they’d eliminated every possible disease and condition they thought it might have been and said, “It’s probably x.” The condition they diagnosed her as (probably) having is, itself, an umbrella diagnosis for kids who present with similar symptoms but who also don’t have a clear diagnosis of something else.

This past Thursday afternoon, I stepped into the kitchen and found my nine-year-old daughter’s arm deep in a mixing bowl, a triumphant smile on her face. A box of brownie mix was beside the bowl on the counter, and so was a small glass bowl with some egg remains and a measuring spoon.

“Do you think other Jewish people will be there?”

I cringed at my daughter’s loud question on the not-quite-empty train.