Leftover Turkey

While the rest of my family still slumbers, I’m sitting at a small table drinking instant coffee sweetened by sugar paid for with shekels in the neighborhood market last night.  After a long day of travel, we’re now settled into our cozy second-floor flat just off Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv, and I’m looking out on the balcony as the sun rises on our first full day in Israel.  We left our apartment in Izmir at 7:00 AM yesterday, and after two taxi rides, one train ride, and two flights, we finally touched down on Tel Aviv. We submitted to no less than seven security scans and multiple passport checks.  The last security scan was just to enter gate 205 B for our flight to Israel, and it was the most thorough because we were frisked, our passports inspected, our electronics and shoes wiped down to check for explosive residue, and every item in our carry on bags completely investigated by one agent while the other looked us in the eye the whole time.  Joseph’s bright blue Gorilla Snot hair gel raised some suspicion, but we were finally granted entry into the seating area where another agent checked our passports again.  It was an exhausting day, and the security checks were inconvenient and tedious, but we had good flights knowing that any miscreants were surely extracted by all those procedures.

Still riding a wave of content from our amazing visit to Ephesus, we stayed close to home during our last two days in Turkey, only venturing out for meals and an occasional ice cream cone.  Joseph and Deveny were able to get a lot of school assignments completed, and Deena and I did a huge amount of research on our upcoming destinations.  I’ve written before that I prefer living an inconspicuous life—an impossibility in a country where everyone can immediately observe that you ain’t from around there.  During our week in Turkey, I spent a lot of time thinking about the role that fear plays in getting through life, and I wholeheartedly agree with FDR in his assertion that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  

Fear creates multiple scenarios in one’s mind that lead to unnecessary worry and crippling doubts when it comes to experiencing new things.  I desperately wanted to stand on the marble streets of Ephesus with my family, but due to the political situation in Turkey, greatly embellished media reports, and other well-meant warnings, we almost didn’t go.  If there had been tanks in the streets and constant detainments, we certainly would have avoided the country, but the majority of the problems were in southeastern Turkey, and we didn’t go there.  

View from our Turkish balcony

Just about everyone we encountered in Turkey was gracious and helpful, and the more time we spent there, the less afraid we became.  I’ve often stated that I would never willingly place my family in a dangerous situation, and while that’s certainly my intention, it’s not an entirely true statement.  Just walking out the front door and leaving the familiar confines of one’s house immediately places a family in a dangerous situation as the recent tragedies in Chattanooga and New Orleans would attest.  The world is full of unstable governments, drunk drivers, tornadoes, and poisonous snakes, and there will always be tension involved with making a fear-tempered decision about whether or not to experience something new.  The ability to deal with that tension greatly affects quality of life, and while the threshold is different for everyone, I’m glad we stretched our comfort zone a bit and were rewarded with a powerful family memory.

Now we’re in Israel, and hopefully our newfound confidence will spur us on to more incredible discoveries.  Deena and I were signed up for a trip to come here almost eighteen years ago when she was five months pregnant with Joseph, and we had to cancel when she went into preterm labor and was ordered to strict bedrest for the next four months.  That was a scary time in our lives, but we made it through together, and now I’m thankful to be here with her and our two children.  We have a whole month to discover the ancient wonders of this land in which the events over the centuries have changed the history of the world.  L’chaim y’all!