I looked at the kid and thought, I want to give you a cow ride.

No, not Spencer. This was the older boy who had just run over to where we sat, grimacing with the unease of being late to Tot Shabbat services, and gave Spencer a big, colorful stuffed Torah.

Suddenly, Tot Shabbat became viable fun. Rabbi Latz read stories with kids hanging on his back (well, at least Spencer was), we paraded around the sanctuary with our stuffed Torahs, and grinned like idiots as our cute kids ran, squirmed, inched and hooted together. Spencer felt called to pipe up several times during the stories with his own, semi-intelligible commentary, and Rabbi Latz agreed and gave him a high-five.

And for a moment, or actually many moments, the fact that our domestic, personal, professional and financial lives are held together by spit, duct tape and dumb luck didn't matter.

And for the record, I gave that kid (and a few others) one hell of a cow ride after the service.

You can also read my wife Kristy's account of the morning... http://www.caffeinatedlove.blogspot.com/