It is tradition and customary that when 2 families are agreed that their children will marry that the engagement is finalized and formalized over a toast which is called a L'chayim (to life). It has become my personal custom to give each granddaughter an expensive bottle of whiskey on their 18th birthday with the provision that they open it and use it to make the L'Chayim toast on the night of their engagement. Below are some photos of my granddaughter Miriam and her groom Yossi holding the bottle of Mortlach Old and Rare Single Malt Scotch which was used for the toast.

The second photo is at the public engagement party where the mothers of the bride and groom prepare to break a traditional plate after the "Tenoyim" (prenuptial agreement) is read aloud.

Third photo is of the bride and groom displaying the traditional gifts they have exchanged, an engagement ring and gold wristwatch.

HERSHEL

So I feel a need to say this now because of Peterff who I have blocked.
A while back I began having flash backs and got in touch with the VA Hotline. I have a complete medical team for everything except dental.
I meet with two groups a week, and a licensed clinical social worker weekly, and a psychologist periodically. I call the hotline if I begin getting overly anxious or depressed.
I tell this team everything. About shooting, about a gun I am planning to buy. Whatever they ask, I tell them how it is. And here is how it with with my guns.
I lock the guns with a cable and lock them in a case and hide the keys. My wife takes the case with the revolvers and hides it. We are looking a big gun safes so we can lock them away good. She will have the combination and I won't.
One of my daughters is a social worker, another is a medical assistant. They are in on the medical details, diagnosis and meds. I have friends in town who spend time in the psych ward periodically, we talk, and we all get it.
So Im not in danger of killing anyone, I gave that up in the 70's.

Why am I posting about my situation on here? Because there are plenty of Vets who can relate to me. And its nice to be able to talk about some of these things to people without saying who I am.

I have enough problems with my emotional situation as it is. And anyone who starts posting like Peterff did I am going to block. If you have PTSD issues like I do, I hope you know it really helps to talk about. I am fortunate to have a wife and kids who really are supportive. I didn't thing they would be.

For instance, my wife wont drink at all. But the past few months I have been drinking a lot of beer, and she will go to the bar with me and drink a coke. It keeps me connected and safe. My wife is walking thru hell with me, that's love people.

I dont know if this all makes sense or not, I don't care. But for those of you who are supportive of me I really appreciate it a lot. I can't drive now, so I am off of work. I don't need the money so it doesn't really matter.
I think that's enough.

Once came by the tail end of a photo shoot and noticed they had tied up a bed sheet from a couple trees. (I still don't know if that was for an outdoor backdrop, shading, or to reflect light a bit.) Anyway I guess all turned out well until they started to disassemble things. They couldn't untie the rope to the sheet/tree.

No one had anything to cut with so I handed them my Swiss Army Knife. One guy yelled out those things are not sharp at all and it wouldn't work on nylon rope. I just smiled and told them to try it. Like cutting warm butter, my knife went through the rope. The guy's jaw dropped!

That leads me to wonder:

1 How many carry a knife with them? (short of an airport, etc.)
2 How many keep it sharp?
3 For those who do, what do you sharpen with?

For me, 1 = Yes, 2 = Yes, 3 = A small ceramic "dog-bone". (I hold the knife still at angle and slide the dog bone across, most of the time sliding out to the tip of the blade.)