On my first day of class, i entered a heated discussion with my lab partner Tracy about Juadism and intermarriage. she comes from a family that was traditionally Conservative, but is now Reform. so I kinda feel pressured to make a good impression on her (i invited her for a Shabbat meal and she said she'll come so now i gotta start working on my family to straighten up. )

and that's why i was mortified when this incident occurred last week:

I've always been bad with time and dates. i knew that Rosh Hashana was coming up the next week, and Yom Kippur the week before that. hello, i totally know when Yom Kippur is because i celebrate my birthday two days before that. but i didn't realize that the end of September was so quickly approaching. so when my lab professor announced that we won't be meeting on the ninth of October, without thinking i called out

"why? what's on the ninth?"

Melissa, the girl who sits across from me looked up at me and said

"oh it's Y-Yom Kippur?"

my face flushed even as she stumbled over the words. in a room full of people i was one of two people who would be observing that holiday! i squirmed and mumbled, more to myself than to Melissa who was once again intently bent over her life-sized model of a human nose,

"i that. i really did"

before leaving this week i turned to Tracy to wish her a Shana Tovah, and asked her if she was going to services this year. (she didn't go last year because two years ago she brought her Catholic boyfriend and he felt uncomfortable)

she proudly nodded and then started singing Dip The Apple In The Honey. i looked at her and grinned.

"you know the song!"

"you bet! it's like the best part of RoshHashana!"

i smiled weakly back at her.

the best part.

sure.