I t all started one night when I dreamed that my friend Shevy was engaged. They say there’s some truth in the stuff that you dream. I can’t disprove that theory because the next evening I heard the happy news: Shevy was a kallah. Straightaway I knew I’d be attending that wedding. Never mind that I lived in London and the wedding was in Canada. Shevy was one of my closest friends and there was no way she was getting married without me being at her side for the entire proceedings.

The problem began when Shevy gave me the date. You see my cousin Eli (two years older than me) had gotten engaged to a local girl just a few days earlier and was getting married on the same day. You know how it is. For months you have no weddings and then suddenly you have two on the same night and you need to choose which one to attend. What an impossible decision. A cousin or a close friend.

For one happy moment I thought my mother would make the decision for me. You see we’re extremely family minded and I didn’t think there was any way she was going to let me fly abroad for my best friend’s wedding when my cousin was getting married in my hometown that same night. Of course I’d cry and complain and try to convince her to change her mind but deep down I’d have been happy to be told what to do.

Reality though differed. “Look Racheli ” my mother told me when she heard my dilemma. “I know how close you are to Shevy and I’m not going to force you to miss it because of Eli’s wedding.