“My husband shunned Judaism from a young age. He felt that it was forced on him. He’s like me: if you force something on me — no. He shut the door on Judaism and did not even want to celebrate the holidays. It is getting better now that we live in St. Charles. For the first time, our kids are going to a Jewish sleepaway camp. They’ve gone to a sleepaway camp before, but by the time they’re gone, we already have to turn around and pick them up. Camp Sabra was where my husband’s sisters used to go. And his stepmom was always saying, ‘How about you give it a try for the kids?’ So he finally said okay, knowing it was going to be an amazing experience. It just shows how far he’s come in terms of his growth to be able to say, ‘Our sons can do this and know more about their heritage.’ A few weeks ago, we told them they were going to Camp Sabra and that it’s a Jewish camp and they were like, ‘But we’re not Jewish.’ We told them, ‘Of course, you’re Jewish.’ And we had told them before, ‘Mom’s Jewish and Dad’s Jewish,’ and they were like, ‘Oh. So we’re Jewish?’ ‘Of course.’ But they didn’t know. I mean, we don’t light the menorah and all that stuff. I don’t know if they’ve ever been to a temple. I don’t think they know I went to Israel, either. Usually, when I talk about my travel history, I start with when I went to London. But, yeah, there was a whole six-week trip I went on and I was so young to be away from home, too. The boys have been to a bar mitzvah. We’ve been to a lot of holidays now — Chanukah dinners and Rosh Hashanah at their grandparents’ — but our boys didn’t make the connection that that’s also in them.”

📷| Lindy Drew