It was a great little Shabbat walk. Very quiet in the neighborhood as usual, but now that we were done studying, our minds were learning to become quiet too. The pace of the walk was slow. Like walking with a two year old, but it was just Stacie and I. After all, we really had nowhere to go and there was nothing we had to do. Very different than what we had been doing. After a life of study study study comes to a screeching halt, we almost didn't know what to do with ourselves or how to rest or be still. But our friends who were making dinner were about to help us.
Back at the house, first came some fantastic hors d’oeuvres along with some white wine. The idea of this dinner was to relax, decompress, eat slowly, enjoy each other's company - have a nice long meal together. So we did. Five tasty courses - and five hours of genuine conversations later - I cannot put words to the extraordinary, completely relaxed and satisfied feeling I had. We all felt it. There is something so right about a meal that lasts longer than 23 minutes (or less).
It reminded me of a time when I was in Turkey 4 years ago. We were at a nice restaurant in a hotel and a group of us came in, we were "starving" after being out all day. They served us dinner, slowly, course by course. After I had devoured my first course I waited for what was next, then I was soon impatiently looking over my shoulder wondering where the heck the waiter was. What poor service. What IS he doing back there anyway? One of the guys, at my table, who was familiar with the culture, said "the servers here don't know what to do with the Americans who just devour their food in no time. People in Turkey often sit down for dinner for about two hours.""Two hours! What do they do around the dinner table for two hours?" I exclaimed.
"Maybe you would get to know your wife" was his reply.
Maybe I will start to get it now.
Dinner for a couple hours. You should try it sometime.
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