❤️💔 🇮🇱 🙏

 gd's earliest alarm woke me up around 6am, and from that point i was unable to return to sleep, not least because i was thinking about the hostage release.

the next few hours were a mess of me watching the news, then deciding not to watch the news, and then watching the news anyway. it was an intense morning, and while our little mission to the pharmacy should have provided some distraction, our pharmacy is very close to hostage square where 65,000 people were crowded, waiting for updates.

we got what we needed (gd doesn't think i made a good decision regarding mosquito repellent, we'll see*) and returned home, then glued ourselves to news feeds until all twenty living hostages were in israeli-controlled territory.

שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ וְקִיְּמָנוּ וְהִגִּיעָנוּ לַזְּמַן הַזֶּה.

* i went with oil of lemon eucalyptus instead of the chemicals that come with scary warnings ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

hearing the helicopters overhead bringing in hostages to ichilov hospital was surreal. today's an emotional rollercoaster for sure - the hostages returning home, their families, their losses, the bodies that haven't been / won't be returned, the thousands of soldiers who were killed since the war started... and who knows what tomorrow will bring?

so we're breathing again and celebrating and mourning all at the same time. it's one hell of a time to say chag sameach

the rest of the afternoon was distractions (chores, shadowrun) while beginning to process, so lots of celebrating and lots of sobbing. someone said it beautifully: for two years now, it's been october 7th. with the last of the living hostages returned, today is october 8th. we can finally start grieving.

even though it's not quite all over. but between trump and netanyahu and all our arab neighbors, it's anyone's guess what's going to happen in the coming days, months and years.

but today was a good day. today we collectively breathe and celebrate the return of those who survived 738 days in captivity, tortured by orcs.