Survived the first week of kids winter break. Today I got some me time, and I honestly do not know how I or anyone else has survived without Shabbat in their lives.
For a few hours while my husband took my kids to synagogue, I had a nap, quiet, and feel recharged for two more weeks!
One of my favorite things to do on Shabbat is listen to the deeper meanings of the stories we learn in the Torah. Below is a beautiful story of how every experience in life is a reminder to live in the moment, and realize that ultimately things are out of our hands.
Let go,
Let God,
Coach Yulia
Kosher Pizza
There are many reasons why I love shopping at Costco. Kosher Pizza used to be one of them. Yet that was only until a few weeks ago when the local store that sold them suddenly stopped.
Trying to feed a family while living in a suburb with limited Kosher options can be a bit of a challenge for a single father with minimal cooking expertise. So being able to throw a frozen Pizza into the oven and cross one day off the list was a wonderful treat.
There I was at the freezer at Costco ready to load up again yet they were gone. I was disappointed. I inquired up front and was referred to a superior who checked the computer and told me that the item had been discontinued so they would not be selling them anymore. When I pressed him for a reason and asked that they kindly reconsider, he gave me the phone number for the regional frozen foods buyer who makes the decisions on what products to sell.
I called the buyer to plead my case yet it got me nowhere. He very patiently explained that his decision was based on Costco criteria for the amount of a product they need to sell in order to continue carrying it. The Kosher Pizzas might be delicious and important to the single-father-needs-a-pass cause, yet they weren’t selling enough to meet the numbers so he needed to discontinue them.
Life moves and so did I, and we figured out another menu item to replace the pizza.
The kids got out of school yesterday for winter break and they will be home for close to two weeks. That means many more meals at home which made me wish for the pizzas once again.
While the kids enjoyed their first day at home, I was at a lunch meeting yesterday with several other rabbis from the metro Atlanta area. Somehow the topic of Kosher Pizza at Costco came up in a casual conversation with one of the rabbis and he told me that he knows they are back in stock because his daughter had purchased them there the day before.
I couldn’t understand how that was possible, especially with the “we are missing the numbers so need to discontinue” inside information that I had. I decided to check it out myself and drove directly from our lunch to the Costco.
There I was back at the freezer and boy did I load up my wagon. We are now well stocked in case of another Pizza drought.
As I paid for my pizzas I thought back to the conversation with the buyer just a few weeks earlier. He was very emphatic about the decision he made which was based on Costco guidelines and systems. Yet it was obvious that he didn’t have the final say. Someone much higher up the corporate ladder had something else in mind and was able to override the guy that thought he makes the final decisions.
I walked to my car with a big smile on my face. I was a happy Costco shopper again. Not only because of having one less dinner a week to worry about, but because of something much more important that had dawned on me.
Employers, medicine, business realities, nature, guidelines and systems, all seem to think they make final decisions about our life and fate. Yet when someone much higher up the ladder has something else in mind, he is able to override the one that thinks they makes the final decisions.
Shabbat Shalom