“I think I’ve found an apartment.” That bit of information sort of stopped me in my tracks. I don’t know why, because the news was not totally out of the blue. Natania had more or less expressed her interest in moving out once she got her degree from Hebrew U. – something she had been ever-so-slowly working towards these many years. Now it was going to happen. No more “We forgot to mention that you need this additional elective to graduate,” or some other unexpected bureaucratic road block. Just one more final exam and, hard to believe, she would be done. Time for her to start looking.

We asked Natania the obvious question that parents who have been there, done that would automatically ask: Can you afford it: will you be able to manage on what you’re earning working at the lab out in Ein Kerem (doing unspeakable things to mice)? We’ve learned the hard way that, even if you can reasonable determine how much money is coming in, you never, ever get a handle on the money rapidly flowing out. I can’t say that Natania sat down and actually crunched the numbers, but she must have at least given them a hearty handshake. She felt confident that she could make a go of it. Continue reading →