L’shanah tovah tikatevu

So last spring a mechanic, who is not our usual mechanic, looked at our car when it died one weekend while our usual mechanic was closed. He wound up not solving the problem in question, and we went to our usual mechanic in the end, but I wanted to compensate him for his time. He hesitated to be paid at all, then agreed to a token amount. Which I promptly forgot about until just a couple weeks ago. Once I realized this, I also realized I also didn’t want to enter the new year with this debt unpaid. So today, somewhat awkwardly, I went in with an apology and the money in hand. The mechanic hesitated again, saying he really hadn’t thought about it at all in the intervening months. But then he said: “How about this? A woman just came by who seemed to need help, and I gave her (smaller amount of money). How about you give me that much, and then we’ll call it done, and you’ll have helped someone today?” So I did. And now instead of awkwardness I feel like I’ve been given a gift to carry into the year ahead. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= An easy fast to all who are observing Yom Kippur tonight. If I’ve done anything to cause offense or pain, please forgive me, or else give me the chance to make amends. If you’re afraid you’ve caused offense or pain in turn, consider it forgiven, and don’t carry any worry into the new year on account of me. Wishing a good and joyous and fulfilling and all-around awesome new year to you all.

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