A Fond Farewell to Dear Gefilte

Dear Gefilte,

Is it true this is the last gefilte post ever?

xo,

Gefilte

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Dear Gefilte and all Gefilte lovers,

Yes, ‘tis sad but true. This fish needs to swim into new unchartered waters.

I have had an amazing time bobbing around here, and I am so grateful for the chance to listen and learn from your questions. In fact, this is not a farewell column, but a thank you column.

Thank you to all who’ve sent me your thoughts, questions, dreams, and confusion. Thank you for being vulnerable and daring, hungry, desperate, and honest. Thank you for trusting me enough to touch that fragile chamber of fear. Thank you for pausing in your busy lives to reach out, to empathize, to argue, and raise awareness.

Thank you for clarifying exactly how good or nonexistent the sex is; what your mother-in-law smells like; how often faith feels like a fight.

Thank you for meeting me here, and wondering whether there can be unconditional love between co-workers.

Thank you to the great staff at Kveller. Thank you to my dear editor and friend, Molly. Thank you to the sweet-hearted Joanna. Thank you to Yossi for drawing my portrait so lovingly. Thank you to Jon for being an IT wizard.

Thank you to Socrates, ‘cuz he made questions cool. Thank you to Cheryl Strayed, for making answers into poetry. Thank you brilliant and generous rabbis for saying it with sooth. Thank you fine makers of Bic pens and decompostable notebooks. Thank you Phyllis, librarian extraordinaire. Thank you to Nora Ephron, who said, “When you slip on a banana peel, people laugh at you. But when you tell people you slipped on a banana peel, it’s your laugh.”

I hope each and every one of us gets to slip on a banana peel today and laugh our butts off. Laugh at our slippery hold on reality. Laugh at our mysterious sense of balance. Laugh at fruit causing this much upheaval. Laugh at how transient even this moment is.

Laugh and laugh and cry and laugh some more.

Thank you dear friends. I hope we get to laugh together again soon.

With love and schmaltz,

Gefilte

Read the entire series here.

I’m In the Divorce Buffer Phase & It’s Actually Not That Bad

On Raising a Daughter Who is Allergic to Nearly Everything

Dear Gefilte

Dear Gefilte is Kveller's advice column. You can send your questions for Gefilte to deargefilte@kveller.com. Dear Gefilte is written by Abby Sher.

Abby Sher is a writer, performer, and mom to three cool beans. Her memoir, Amen, Amen, Amen: Memoir of a Girl Who Couldn't Stop Praying got lots of awards from people like Oprah. She writes regularly for The New York Times and The Jewniverse and wears a bike helmet to bed.