Home for the Holiday
This year, for the first time, I was able to go home for Yom Kippur, which is the holiest day of the Jewish year. I do love Vanderbilt Hillel and the Jewish community on campus, but because the holiday was on Saturday and the Commodores were in South Carolina, I decided to take a quick trip to Miami Beach and see my family.
My family spent the majority of Saturday in temple, but the holiday concludes at sundown with a huge break fast (not breakfast). Yom Kippur is the holiday which involves a 24-hour fast. It is brutal, but we do it together, and then celebrate its completion with a feast of Jewish foods. This year, break fast was at my house, so my mom cooked everything from French toast to blintzes to tuna and egg salad. Naturally, we had some leftovers, so I brought some real deli bagels and egg salad back to school for me and my friends!
The best part of break fast was getting to watch the Vanderbilt/ South Carolina game on ESPN. It is crazy to think that in just three years, Vanderbilt football has gone from a two-win team to a Saturday night primetime team. Especially after watching the game, my entire extended family is on the Commodore band wagon!
On Sunday, the weather was uncharacteristically poor. It rained for the majority of the day. This left me no choice but to stay inside and cuddle with my dog while watching football with my dad. I could not imagine a more perfect Sunday. To top it all off, the Miami Dolphins won, so the Graff house was all smiles all day.
At first, it seemed a little early in the semester to be going home. I honestly feel like I was just moving in. As it worked out, though, I will not be going home for fall break, so I seized this opportunity to hang out with the family that I miss terribly while I am at school. I was not quite homesick, but I definitely used the opportunity to recharge and I cannot wait to see what the rest of the semester has in store!
