Suddenly I felt a rush of gratitude, dizzyingly strong, for the life Hashem has given me

“I

have to ask you something,” my husband began. His tone made me stop what I was doing and look up.

It was early Friday afternoon and I was ready for a relaxing Shabbos. I hadn’t been feeling well earlier in the week, and when my mother offered to send me Shabbos, I’d accepted with guilty relief.

“So I already told him I think the answer is no, because you’re not feeling well, so it’s really, really no pressure, but I said I would ask…” My husband trailed off.

“Okay…” I waited for him to continue. This wasn’t sounding very reassuring so far.

“You know that meshulach who was here the other day, the one who calls me Mandelbaum? He wants to know if he could come for Shabbos.”

I panicked.