A week later, Grandpa returned to the base. Around the same time, the chief of staff announced that the unit had proven its operational value, and that he would explore the possibility of establishing elderly platoons in the Nahal Brigade and the paratroopers. Two days later, while I was attending an open day at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, I got a phone call from the chambers of the president of Israel. They told me the president wanted to invite the four elderly heroes and their families to receive a special appreciation certificate.

I told Grandpa that I had fought a war and was never awarded that kind of honor, and he replied with a smile that if I asked nicely, he’d give me a few tips.

“Do you believe he got a commendation?” I asked Dad, but he noted it wasn’t a commendation, just a letter of appreciation. Ever since Dad had heard about the entire affair, he didn’t say a word. Didn’t even go to visit Grandpa at the hospital. He said he was terribly busy, that he had all these work things going on, but I knew he just couldn’t accept the fact he had been wrong about his father the whole time.

21.

[email protected]

November 1, 2009, 02:18:43

Subject: Re: Hi Yuli

I found your civics paper! It was in a shoebox under my bed. It was lying there in a pile of souvenirs I had brought over from my old apartment in Petah Tikva. Remember that apartment? What a dump, huh? I spent three years of my life there. To tell you the truth, I regret every moment. Wasted years. I should have gone to India the day after your Dad and I split up. What little still remained between you and me somehow got ruined in that apartment. You’d come over once every two weeks, and wouldn’t say a word to me. I know you think I didn’t try hard enough, but let’s face it, Yuli, you didn’t give me much of a chance. Maybe I wasn’t the perfect mother, but it’s not like you were the perfect son. I’d never come out and say it, but I think you know it too.