israel

I want to remember every moment i was there; it seems important somehow. The plane came in over the Mediterranean, out of clouds, then suddenly I could see water in the dawn and city lights on the golden land. The landing was smooth, entry easy-there were so few of us on the plane, landing on shabat. I stumbled thru customs, a row of ugly green wooden booths with bullet-proof plastic windows staggered in a row. Conveyor belt hallways, I was so tired, luggage, more officials, then Sapir! She looked wonderful and it made my heart sing to see her. We found a shayruk and entered it. A few non-English speaking folks were already there, more came. An Israeli cop stuck her head in and demanded to know how much we were paying to travel to Jerusalem. She repeated her question, everyone just staring at her. Finally Sapir said, "It costs 50 shek" and the offiicer said "Fine. Don't pay him any more than that," and ducked out. We rocketed down the center of the highway/freeway toward the city of my dreams, thru the greening dawn. I saw palms, cypress, cedars, lots of shrubs I couldn't identify, rolling rocky hills, distant towns, signs in three languages. And my sapito.