Well everyone, I had my bar mitzvah one week ago and it was amazing! Here are the deets:
I went to bed Friday thinking that tomorrow was a normal day. No trouble falling asleep whatsoever. However, I woke up in the middle of the night. After that, I couldn't fall back asleep. I got a total of 5 hours of sleep, but I was wide awake. I get to my temple about two hours early for pictures, getting prepared, etc. I'm somewhat relaxed, but surprised that the day is already here.
As I was getting pictures taken in various poses, my adrenaline was rising. Luckily, my usher, who happens to be my best friend, had walked in. He is so supportive and helped convince me that I'd do fine. At that point, I had to go to my rabbi's office to relax before the service.
I bumped into the cantor on the way to the office. She had her poker face on and strictly told me, "You know, if you mess up, we kick you out and your bar mitzvah doesn't count." She had the straightest face ever and it got me scared, but I knew it was a joke. It wasn't a good time, because I was already freaking out.
So everyone is sitting, chillaxing in the office while I'm hyperventilating. "I can't do this... I can't believe it's here..." I would say. My parents somewhat calmed me down. After the meeting in the office, we departure for the service. Right behind the door where I walk in is where we stand. The rabbi checks to see who is there. He tells us about 50% of the people that are supposed to be here aren't here yet. It is already 5 minutes past when we were supposed to start, so the rabbi says we have to start anyway. At this point, I'm freaking out, about to die.
I walk in. I examine who is sitting where and who IS here. I think to myself, well, I know everyone here. Okay, Michael, you're breathing steadily. Keep it up. I take my seat. The cantor sings the opening hymn, and I'm up. I walk up to the podium. I think, the way I say this first like determines how my stage fright will be throughout the whole service. "Our service continues at the top of page 288" I say. It comes out perfectly.
I conduct the service as I've practiced, and everything comes out fluidly. Halfway through the service, I'm like, hey, this ain't so bad. In fact, this is FUN! I try to savor the moment, thinking, this is the only chance in my life that I will be able to do this. As you can tell, a lot of thoughts are going through my head. Throughout the service in between songs, the cantor and rabbi would stop next to me and whisper in my ear, "You haven't messed up" or "You're doing great." I knew I didn't mess up and I knew I was doing great. Everything seemed like second nature to me.
After the service, I shook every one's hands and they congratulated me on a job well done. All of my hard work had paid off. Now, it was time to PARTY!!!!! I won't go into detail about the party, but it was a blast.
When everything was over, we packed our cars and bags and went home. At home, I immediately begin opening cards and endorsing all the checks. Let me tell you, a bar mitzvah is a MONEY MAKING EXPERIENCE. I'm not going to say how much I got because you'd probably be jealous, but I felt fantastic. I just had my bar mitzvah, I have tons of money, and my whole family is here to support me. Life could not have been better at that point.
The rest of the day however went by extremely slowly. I was so bored because I had nothing to work towards at that point - no upcoming school tests, no homework, no bar mitzvahs to study for, nothing. So, I wandered the house looking for something to do the rest of the day.
My bar mitzvah was amazing.
This will be the last of all posts about bar mitzvahs. Next week, expect normal posts again regularly every Saturday!
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