Missile alarm- “again? won’t this ever end-continue watching TV and watering my plants”.
Missile alarm 2- this sounds serious, maybe I will check out what’s going on in the shelter. ok-I know. 3/4 of the building, kids playing and screaming, hot as witches’ tit and everyone looking at their cellphone. Going back upstairs.
Missile alarm 3 (middle of the night)- fuck them, I am going back to sleep.
Missile alarm 4 to 9- See #3
Next day-shooting pains in my gums, but not in the same area. Twitch in lips. Very bad itchy back. No “palpable” fear.
Missile alarm 10-in the shelter, daytime. Jesus H Christ, I wonder if the building fell. That was close.
Missile alarm 11-in shelter. “this ain’t no joke”. Still no fear but noise sensitivity developing.
Missile alarm 12-11pm. I am lying in bed. Horrendous fear; shaking from anxiety. It lasts 3-5 seconds, and then, off to sleep. Poor sleep. 3 hours. I am SO fucking tired.
For the rest of the war I am not fearful, just very tired and sensitive to noise. No patience. Anger easily.
It’s over. Itchy back for two more days. My dermatologist (Boaz) says that emotions can make scar tissue sensitive. (from BCC removal)
Then, finally, it’s all over. 9 hours of sleep.
Another beautiful day.

It is not easy to “catch up” on sleep during the day; the phrase “catching up”, if you ask me, does not apply to sleep.

And believe me, I wish it was possible.

Most nights, the following routine applies. Your phone emits a series of screeches warning you that within minutes that sirens will sound in your area. Alas, that is what happens, generally 5 to 10 minutes after the telephone heads up.
Then, you can either go to the shelter, or, stay put.

A few minutes later (7 to 10 minutes), massive booms are heard. These booms are either Iranian missles landing or Iron Dome/David’s Arrow taking the missiles out.
There are no words which can describe the noise. Ten minutes of waiting after which it is safe to leave the shelter. (I no longer go the shelter in the middle of the night.)
All this happens two or three times at night-at about 10 pm, 3 am and 5 am.
Today at 4pm, we had to enter the shelter at 4PM. Everyone looked gutted.
The main complaints in the shelter include poor wifi, weak fans, noise that children make, and sarcastic comments like “are we winning”?

I am an avid reader-but I cannot read in the last few days. However, my house is very clean. My closet is orderly. Everything is, “fix-fox”-in perfect order. I even ironed the shirts that I had made for me in Uganda.

My 16 year old dog, George,  is senile, so he walks very slowly, and often in circles. But he loves to eat and smell leaves. So, he gets about 6-7 outings a day. Or maybe, he is walking me.

I have relatives whose kids are in the service. They are nervous wrecks. Every incoming phone call, every knock on the door triggers fear.

As opposed to situations in the past, no one that I know questions the necessity of what is being done; left, right, centre, secular, religious, Jews, Arabs-wall to wall support for defanging Iran – albeit for very different reasons. Even the Turks support Israel, so that they can take an even bigger bite out of Syria. The most amazing part of this all is that the Jordanian air force downs missiles headed to Israel, Israeli jets fly to Iran over Syria and Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, hasn’t even thrown a stone at us.

We are witnessing a total transformation of the middle east.

I just hope that this ends soon.

I need to get back to the gym.

A Boy Named Sue by the great unforgettable Johnny Cash  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z1Ple-qYuU&list=RD-Z1Ple-qYuU&start_radio=1&ab_channel=JohnnyCash-Topic