Active diving Fighting The Octopus 1114*AIMAN SIM TROPICAL DRINK SPECIALS! HULA WEST! GAMES & PRIZES ALL NIGHT! THURSDAY NIGHTS 8PM to CLOSE An age-old remedy for sleep deprivation. I SPECIAL GUEST DJ, SPOONS THE BEST MUSIC FROM THE 80'S, WS & NOW! STARTING FRIDAY AT 9PM! PRIZES a AIN • RHO OMR SHOALS GANIEWORKi 41;eREAT LAKES CROSSING * 2411.7459675 ADMIRALOPTICAL- our focus is on your vision Fitsovers Sunglasses to wear over your prescription eye glasses. Several styles available. WESTWIND LAKE VILLAGE SHOPS • 243-960-2300 Haggerty Rd. & Pontiac Trail • W. Bloomfield.. ease your mind about the future of ong-term care Nearly 5o% of all Americans will likely need long-term care at some point in their lives. Our tax-qualified long-term care insurance policy provides coverage for care in the home, adult day care centers or nursing facilities. So an hour invested in planning today, can make thinking about tomorrow much more comfortable. Call me today for a free, no-obligation consultation. 4IN 6/21 2002 100 Louis Lan J.D., CSA Financial Representative 248-244-6075 Northwestern Long Term Care Insurance Company A Northwestern Mutual Company 2701 Troy Center Dr. • Troy, MI 48084 Neil Silver Financial Representative 248-244-6050 .0062. have a problem sleeping. To be more precise, I have a problem sleeping past 6 in the morning. No matter if it's the weekend and I've stayed up until 3 in the morning the night before or if it's a much needed vacation day when I don't have anything planned, when the sun rises, so do I. This is not something I'm proud of — like a rigorous training sched- ule I have self-imposed in order to run a marathon someday. It is simply a child- hood habit that I am unable to break. It started in the spring of my 10th year, when my AMY HIRSHBERG father decided I was officially LEDERMAN old enough to Special to become a "full the Jewish News working mem- ber" of our family. For him, this meant that I was the primary subject of a 6 a.m. wake up call that could be heard in the next county. For me, it meant the end of any hope of sleeping in and a list of chores that had to be done before noon. The net result of this early morn- ing ritual was twofold. First, it turned me into a morning person. You know the type: cheerful and dis- gustingly perky after having accom- plished a half-day's work before most people have even brushed their teeth. Second, it taught me Dad's Number One Life Lesson: To live is to work. (Not to be confused with Mom's Number One Life Lesson: To live is to worry.) Don't get me wrong. Getting up early definitely had its advantages — Amy Lederman is an attorney Jewish educator and freelance writer in Tucson, Ariz. Her husband is former Detroiter Dr. Ray Lederman. like being the first one in our family to claim the prize' in the Frosted Flakes box and having grown-up conversations with my Dad about things like mortgages' and snow blowers. Yet the afterglow of these small victories did not outweigh the long-term adverse effect of equating rest with something you earn only after all of your chores are done. Over the years, the fallacy of this equation has become painfully clear to me for the simple reason that get- ting all of my chores done is as probable as putting an octopus to bed. As soon as I have finished wrestling three arms into submis- sion, two more jump out demand- ing my attention. Regardless of the number of meals I cook, how much mail I open or how many hours I spend preparing to teach a class, there is always one more phone call to return or one more load of wash that remains undone. There is something, however, that has helped me begin to turn down the volume on my work channel. Contrary to what you might think, it is not intensive psychotherapy or even a generous dose of Zoloft. What has helped me begin to reframe my orienta- tion towards work is much sim- pler and less expensive tlian either of those alternatives. I have begun to learn the value of not being productive through the experience of Shabbat. The Jewish Sabbath is intended to be a weekly reminder of how rich our lives can be when we relinquish control over the things we dominate during the week. It is meant to free us from the pressures and burden of work and enables us to renew our- selves through weekly relaxation and spiritual rest and renewal. Shabbat is an invitation to enjoy time with family and friends, to share a good meal, to pray with our community, to finally read the last chapter of the book you put down weeks ago for lack of time. It estab- lishes a specific time each week dur- ing which we are entitled and required to stop and reflect rather than to do and create. I still fight against my octopus and the pull of its arms as it draws me closer to the myriad of tasks that remained unfinished. But I am grateful for the wisdom of a tradi- tion that recognizes how essential it is to rest and for the sanctuary in time that Shabbat provides. ❑