Kvelling
When your son takes a step to becoming a man
In October my oldest son will become a bar mitzvah. In the the Jewish tradition, once you reach the age of 13, you are considered a Jewish adult. This means that your children are now responsible for their own actions, and they take on the yoke of the mitzvot, or commandments.
While napping is not technically one of those 613 commandments (consider it the 614th, especially here at TND), my eldest did take one more step towards adulthood today when he, on his own, headed up to his room after camp and closed his eyes for an afternoon snooze.
The word proud doesn’t even begin to cover my emotions as his dad. Perhaps a better word would be the yiddish word “kvell,” which means to be extraordinarily proud or to rejoice. Let’s just say I felt all that and more.
Tonight I asked my eldest about the nap. “How’d it go down? How did you set it up? Did you enjoy it? Do you consider yourself a napper now?” He described it in pretty good detail. Maybe a Friday guest posting is in his future.
After sharing how he dimmed the lights this afternoon and scrolled through his phone for a bit before his eyes fluttered closed, he said “like father like son.” Nothing better for a parent to hear. He’s definitely on the path to adulthood, and I’ll nap tomorrow kvelling about the future.