head, shoulder, knees and toes...

ah, yes...the gleeful toddler song...parents smiling...anxiously...hoping their future genius...who they will post about ad nauseum on social media...touches the right body parts when performing at family get-togethers and neighborhood barbecues...but as i reference this rhyme today it is because as of tomorrow i will have completed the quartet and had some procedure or surgery on all stated parts...tomorrow the right shoulder...and as my fingers fly on the keyboard i frown realizing i will be pecking in frustration with my slow left fingers for a few weeks to come...and so i cook the last supper, as it were, on the first night of Chanukah...before the shoulder feels like that latke on the bottom of the plate...i think back wistfully to my childhood and to the joyous anticipation of that first night...the first present...and the first candle burning in my parents' music box menorah...that as we got older played a rather asthmatic sounding "Hatikvah"...i think back to all this holiday was, and is...and wish, for just this moment, i was that little strawberry blonde...singing that song...giggling throughout...all my grandparents, my father still with me...my poor mom rushing to clean up sixties-style...no dishwasher...and my grandfathers hoisting me up to light the first candle...Chag Sameach...Happy Chanukah...wishing you all the blessings and sweetness of memory...