A lesson learned from an error

Great outdoor types that we are, we spent (U.S.) Independence Day (July 4th) watching a couple of DVDs with some good friends. The first movie was a Bollywood musical called “Bride and Prejudice.” Speaking of cheating, it occurred to me several hours later that I probably shouldn’t have watched a musical during the Three Weeks. But HaShem had the last laugh.

If I were traditional enough to believe in such things, I would say that my watching that particular movie was “hashgacha pratit,” which I think translates roughly as “divine intervention,” the idea that everything that happens in one’s life happens for G-d’s own good reason(s). One scene, at a wedding, showed a bevy of beautiful young women singing their way down a conveniently wide staircase, then joining the gents at the foot of the stairs for a dance sequence. They were interrupted, mid-dance, by the mother of some of the guests, who stood on the stairs singing something to the effect that just because she wasn’t so young anymore didn’t mean she wasn’t attractive, and dancing in a would-be “come-hither” manner. The woman’s daughters cringed in embarrassment, and her husband had the dubious privilege of persuading her to join him while trying not to tell her what a spectacle she was making of herself.

Okayyyyyyyyy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Apparently, this “dancin’ fool” is only allowed to make a fool of herself in public when her son is not present. I’ll have to remember that, should I happen to have the good fortune to see him wed, one of these years. Lady, leave the livelier dancing to the bride and groom and their friends.