Morning minyan

I have been to morning minyan several days in a row to say kaddish for my father. The service clips along at a brisk pace, and although my Hebrew is pretty good, I'm not familiar with the prayers and can't keep up. So it's not been a particularly moving experience emotionally as I struggle to familiarize myself with the service, when to stand up and sit down, try to learn the words. I took home a copy of the prayer book and made a promise to start reviewing a little bit of the shacharit service every day.

The early morning start time (7 AM!) hasn't helped either. I'm only used to getting up that early for doctors and airplanes. I've hit a wall of fatigue each afternoon and have had to take a nap, which is not really like me. On the other hand, I bought a coffee punch card at my local coffee shop Cafe Javasti so I can treat myself to a mocha on the way home occasionally.

We'll see how the rest of the month progresses....