Dear Ben,

Hey you wrote to me the other day asking me about these blogs. I've taken a break trying to create a wedding app for Sam and Heather. Except I don't work on the app that much or as much as I should.

I'm in Florida this week. Jet Blue runs promotions perhaps quarterly, and I managed to get a $120 round trip ticket that lined up with my mom's spring break. My dad was also forced into retirement recently, so I get to spend time with my family! On the plane ride over there seemed to be a lot of Jewish people. Interestingly growing up there was only a few other Jewish kids in school, so it can be surprising to see Jewish people heading to Florida.

The women on the seat next time spent a really long time trying to figure out if her creamer packets were kosher. At least that's my guess as to why she stared at them for so long, referenced things on her phone, and finally had her coffee without it. The flight went by pretty quick, much quicker than flying across coasts, and since the flight was at 7:50am and I had woken up at around 3:30am I slept most of the time.

When I walked out of the airport I was hugged by the Florida humidity even though it's spring, and around the 70-80s. When I got home I met my mom's new cat Lulu who has been spending most of the time glued to a couch seat. Except anytime you walk near the kitchen she runs over because she thinks you'll feed her. She tries to meow but apparently she can't. The cat has teeth problems, and my mom is trying to figure out when she'll have surgery for them.

Everyday I join my parents for the evening walk of their dog. One day we meandered through the neighborhood extending what would probably be a 20-30 minute walk into an hour+. As my mom collected neighborhood gossip, she learned about how a house was raided and then seized by the FBI due to someone money laundering, and how a separate neighbor who worked for the FBI had died due to kidney failure and his wife had moved out.

You'd think that returning back home to my childhood home there would be friends that I'd catch up with and reconnect with, but surprisingly I don't do that too intentionally / too often. Somehow living this slow paced lifestyle makes me even sleepier, and I can't put my finger on what it is.

My mom is elated that I am here, and she enjoys parading me around / minimally me introducing me to her neighbors and other parts of her life. I crashed her zoom Hebrew class so she could introduce me. She wanted me to jump in to say hi during her couples counseling, and has invited me to her pilates class many times!

Yesterday I started feeling kind of sick, and my mom started giving me medicine. Thankfully, I've started to feel better today and hopefully I am on the road to recovery. I've been working the days that I am here, besides Monday the day I traveled, and took like a 3 hour nap to recover from my lack of sleep! Tonight we had a low key Shabbat dinner where my dad did the Kiddush and Hamotzi and my mom cooked Mulukhiyah, which strangely (to me at least) she is able to buy at a Haitian store.

I've been annoying my mom a fair bit. Maybe because when you return to your childhood home you revert to your childhood ways, except I don't think I was that annoying to her as a kid. Anyway I heard you did a great job taking care of Stella!
Thanks for reaching out and asking about the blog! Hope to hear from you soon!

Regards,
Jose