Gone Dishin'

We live on a little lake. Well, Ok…it’s more like a pond and when the water level is low, a dirty pond. But, for the most part, it’s quite beautiful, especially when the weather is crystal clear or really stormy. I love to see the trees changing colors on the opposite side in the fall, or the ripples spread across the lake when the wind is blowing. We have geese and ducks that spend time hanging out on our pond too. It’s quite a site to watch them come swooping down, making a perfect landing. I’m always amazed at how the lake can have wind, pollen, leaves, snow and rain on its surface; and yet the essence of the lake is never disturbed. I like to think of it as a metaphor to a soul. Our real selves don’t change, even if a “storm” comes our way. I try to always stop and thank G-d for this little piece of paradise in my back yard. Even my dog knows the lake is special. She loves the spots around the lake where the sun hits the grass. She’ll stop on our walk and just sit staring out at the lake, smelling all the critters while refusing to go on and leave her “sun spot.”

But, I never thought much about how the lake got there until one day I actually met the guy who built our lake. His name is Robin Hood. Really. He’s about 87-years-old and lives in our neighborhood, and as he has told me (many times), he built the entire lake himself with a mule and a hand plow. He’s quite elderly now and forgets that he’s told me. So, he tells me again and again, and I never get tired of hearing it wondering what it looked like 45 years ago. “Really?” I ask him (every time he tells me the story). “Yep. Just me and my mule. That’s it.”  He told me his parents bought our entire neighborhood about 45 years ago …smart people. Today it would take 15 illegal immigrants and about $500,000 to build a pond the same size.

Anyway, the cool thing is that it is a fresh water lake with 7 underwater springs that feed it. Why does that matter? Because that means our lake is also a mikvah. A kosher mikvah. A mikvah is a spiritual body of water that is used to purify people and, yes, dishes because we, Jews, don’t do anything, even using dishes without a ritual and a blessing. So, anytime we purchase glass or metal dishes, we have to give them a bath first in a mikvah. Then we take our spiritually elevated but dirty dishes to our dishwasher, clean them and then we use them. Why water? Well, water represents change, a change in status, like a birthing process. Water can purify and elevate. Some communities have a mikvah for dishes, but since I have a lake, I just go to my backyard, as do some of the people in our community. I am happy to be able to provide others with easy access to our fishin’, I mean, “dishin' dock.” So the other day, there I see on our dock my friend, Kim, with, would you believe, an entire bread machine?? (now wet from its bath)… Now that is one committed lady. I open my window and yell, “Hey, Kim…Happy Dipping.” To which she replies, “Can you believe this? Is this crazy or what?” We both laugh. Who would have thought that in Dunwoody, Georgia a lake built by Robin Hood and his mule would now be used as a mikvah? But it is, and that is how it is supposed to be. If you have dishes and want to stop by, please do. My little dog will accompany you to the lake and even keep you company while you dip your dishes.