Summer is coming to an end, and honestly, I cannot believe it. Somehow we are already heading toward fall, everyone is coming back into town, the community is buzzing again, and Rosh Hashanah is right around the corner.
Our Rosh Hashanah menu is officially up on the website, and we are already starting to see orders and questions coming in. There is something about this time of year that always feels like everything starts moving at once again—school, holidays, events, celebrations, and all the planning that comes along with them.
This week, we also had the joy of catering a beautiful wedding. Of course, we always love hearing that the food was wonderful, but what stood out to me most was the couple themselves. They truly seemed so happy just to be together, surrounded by their family and friends, celebrating the beginning of their life together. It was really lovely to watch.
Being part of someone’s wedding day is such a privilege. We may be there to cook, serve, set tables, and make sure all the little details happen, but we also get this small window into one of the biggest moments in a family’s life. This one just felt especially joyful.
And the celebrations definitely are not slowing down! We have lots of Bar and Bat Mitzvah inquiries coming in right now, which is always exciting.
I am also in the middle of planning my youngest daughter Miriam’s Bat Mitzvah this December. Or at least I am trying to plan it—if only she could decide what she wants on the party menu! 🙂
Her Bat Mitzvah falls on the last day of Hanukkah, so for the luncheon I really want to incorporate some special Hanukkah touches. I have been working on decorations, food ideas, and all the little details that somehow multiply every time I cross something off the list.
And then there is the party.
That is a whole other thing!
As I work through all of this, though, I keep thinking about how meaningful it is to celebrate these moments surrounded by community.
I have written before about the beauty of shiva and the incredible way our community comes together during mourning. After experiencing that personally, I understand even more deeply how important it is to have people around you during the hardest moments of life.
But I have been thinking lately that the same thing is true during the happiest moments.
We need people to mourn with us, but we also need people to celebrate with us.
There is something incredibly special about looking around a wedding, a Bar or Bat Mitzvah, a holiday table, or any simcha and seeing all of the people who have become part of your story. The friends who have watched your children grow up. The relatives who traveled to be there. The people from different parts of your life who suddenly find themselves sitting at the same table.
Those relationships make the celebrations richer.
Life is filled with both difficult moments and beautiful ones, and I think one of the greatest gifts of community is knowing that we do not have to experience either of them alone.
As summer comes to a close and we begin preparing for Rosh Hashanah, I am feeling especially grateful for all of the celebrations happening around us, for the families who invite Mosaic to be part of them, and for this wonderful community we get to share them with.
Here’s to a busy fall, lots of simchas, and hopefully Miriam choosing a menu sometime soon.
