I was in a Hudson's store--(endemic to South Mississippi)these stores buy out other stores so you never know what you'll find. In the front part of the Hudson's store in Lucedale were goods from some business that had sold a lot of makeup. Bins and bins of eyeliner, lipsticks, eyeshaow etc.
So this little girl about four years old was on her tippy toes peering into the bins and saying loudly over and over to her mother "I WANT MAKEUP!"
Her mother ignored her. Over and over like a broken record this child demanded, insisted, pled and whined "I WANT MAKEUP!"
Where did this little bitty girl get the idea she needed makeup? The entire time I was in the store you could hear her whining for makeup.

I went to the back of the store where products from a Jewish gift store were on sale. Gift wrap, gift bags, Hannukah cards etc. and a large display of menorah's were on the shelves. I bought two, one for my daughter and one for me. I have a small collection (like four) menorah's. This one is shiny like stainless steel or chrome and has a Star of David mounted above the middle candle holder.

I don't know why menorah's appeal to me and my daughter, but they do. It helped that the night before I had seen Fiddler On The Roof on TV, the good one starring Topol.
His daughters are doing something unheard of--not waiting for the matchmaker to find themselves a husband, and falling in love. He had never thought about falling in love and was perplexed. He goes to his wife and sings softly "Do you love me?"
She says "For 25 years I've kept your house and and had your children now you ask that?"
He sings "No, I need to know "Do you love me?"
That's my favorite part of this movie, though every song is a showstopper "Sunrise, Sunset, "If I Were A Rich Man" and all the rest.

My new menorah sits on the book case so I can see it all the time. I sent my daughter hers, and she says to look at it reminds her of the people who have lived through thousands of years of tribulation and still survive, and makes her feel stronger. (Though we're not Jewish by blood we are by affinity. And who knows, there may be a Jew in the closet back in our ancestral tree somewhere. I would be proud to claim it.)

susil