Note to self:

Keep your big mouth shut.

Words destroy. They rip tears in people's hearts. They rip apart relationships. The Chofetz Chaim says that you should assume things are secrets unless specifically told otherwise.

I feel like that woman who came to a rabbi (was it the Chofetz Chaim?) and asked him how she could repent for saying Lashon Hara. He told her to take a feather blanket and rip it open (there's that word again). When she did, the feathers all flew away. She returned to the rabbi, who then told her to go and collect all the feathers.

"But it's impossible," she replied. "They've all flown in so many different directions; they're impossible to retrieve now!"

"That's just the point," responded the rabbi. Words are like that. Once they're out of your mouth they're gone. They can't be taken back.

But words are not like feathers, but rather like big, sharp knives...flying every which way, striking whatever they hit...

I wish I could adequately apologize.

Incidentally, I was just listening to a tape by R' Noach Orlowick, and he said an amazing truth: "The more aware a person is, the more capable he or she is to feel both pleasure and pain."
So it's zeh l'umas zeh - on so many levels.

Pesach Lessons

1. Watching someone get excited about Torah is amazing-absolutely wonderful. It just lifts me up and carries me...well, I just like it a lot.

2. I miss my sister when she's away. But my sister's friends can sometimes help with that, especially when I need serious ranting or advising :) B's cool, so her friends must be cool too! Thanks again.

3. Chiquitita, you and I know/that the heartaches come and they go...you're awesome! :)

4. "Off the Derech" - I'm reading it now...be prepared for a review sometime in the general future...

5. I am an excellent actress. Better than I even thought.

6. Putting a major research paper off until the absolute last moment is really really not a good idea. Especially when the last time you wrote a paper for this professor, you worked really really hard on it and the prof. now expects the same results...

7. Need dating advice? Of all my friends (all of which but one are currently attached), I am apparantly the guru. Which is kinda funny, 'cause I have the least experience in engagements.

8. I don't wanna move to that claustrophobic city up north...but I may just have to :-/