Emptying My Head

Sunday, December 12, 2004

Bat Mitzvah Blahs

The Bat Mitzvah weekends for my daughter's friends are slowing down for a month. Each event represents an entire weekend of catering to the times and location of the event and parties. The services are in the morning, followed by lunch. Then she is whisked home to rest and prepare for the evening dinner dance. Adorned with makeup and entire outfits, she joins her friends to dance the night away. We have the honor of picking up and bringing her home, only to have an early wakeup call for Hebrew School on Sunday morning. It is so awesome that she is attending these with her friends, but it is difficult for us to do anything that we want or need to do. She has no time for anything else while at home (laundry, other chores, etc. ) and we are not even mentioning homework or studying for a test.
All these weekend shindigs point to the fact that we must decide how, what and, most importantly, when and where her event and celebration will be. We are weary of discussing alternative scenarios, and are no closer to deciding what we choose for her Bat Mitzvah. The religious significance of the events she attends is lost on her. And, though she has excellent Hebrew reading skills, I think it is more a matter of enduring the training and ceremony in order to have the best party. Foremost on her mind is the kind of music that we will allow the disc jockey to play -- will the curse words have to be bleeped out in the rap and hiphop songs? Well, actually, I guess we do know one thing about her Bat Mitzvah ...and that is, that the words will be bleeped out.