I had a haircut appointment this morning. Normally, anyone living outside of Israel would not give two thoughts to jumping in the car and going. Grab your keys, a good book, and a bottle of water and you’re good to go.

 

Things here work differently.

 

Firstly, my appointment was technically last week, but I had cancelled it – things were a bit more “active” then, and I was afraid of a possible missile during the half hour drive.

But then, a few days later, I regretted it. I decided that I can’t completely put the brakes on my life. I had already been in the middle of a private rehab appointment when 15 strangers entered the studio/mamad when a siren went off last week. And it was fine. So I rebooked the appointment. But it weighed on my mind….

 

Several days before the appointment so many scenarios started to play out in my mind – the “what ifs” were taking up a LOT of space in my brain.

1. Should I just take the direct highway route? Probably the best idea, but if there was a siren, there was literally no place to run for cover.

2. Maybe I would zig zag through several cities in order to get there. That would solve the siren problem but it would take me 3 times as long – and therefore 3 times as many chances of a siren.

3. Then I thought about the time. Iran and Hezbollah were super fans of the way-too-early before 6 am sirens, the early morning 6-8 siren and the later afternoon sirens. So maybe mid-day would be the best.

 

Conclusion:
So 12 PM it was, and I took the fast direct highway route.

 

I let out a HUGE sigh of relief the second I pulled up, and had a really nice time getting my hair done and chatting with the lovely women I always meet there. It was exactly the little bit of “me-time” that I needed. Then a couple hours later, I was back in the car, retracing my route but backwards to go home.

 

Everything was fine until I realized that I’m very easily triggered by the slightest noise that *may* sound like a siren.
First it was a song on my Spotify. There was some background steady beep that startled me so much that I actually turned the music off to make sure the sound wasn’t coming from a siren. It was the song. I skipped it and settled back into the drive. Then I saw a whole bunch of cars pulled over to the shoulder. I shut my music off and switched to the radio. I didn’t hear any announcements, but I slowed down ready to pull off onto the shoulder. Then I saw a bunch of the drivers all congregating and talking, but not taking cover.

 

It reminded me of an incident that happened in Tel Aviv recently where there was a small group of runners who were running together. They ran past a cafe and everyone who was sitting and enjoying a coffee and sandwich immediately thought they were running to a shelter, so they left everything behind and joined the group running to what they thought was a shelter.

 

It’s an amusing story and when you see the video, it’s actually hilarious and not-so-funny at the same time, but it’s definitely super enlightening for those who don’t live here.

 

We Israelis are ever vigilant – we see someone running and our reflexes and instincts kick in to overdrive. We’re amped up on the “did you hear that?!” and our legs have already begun to move before we ascertain if the danger is even real.

 

Back to the drive:
So I continued on considering this group of drivers appeared to be super chill and had not stopped because of a siren. I’m now less than 15 minutes away from home, and breathing easier, and that’s when I see it: a car pulled over and a mother and 2 kids crouched several feet away with their hands over their heads. My foot automatically hit the brakes. My eyes dart away from the road and then I see more cars pulled over to the side. I shut my music off and open the window.

 

No siren.

A thousand thoughts run through my head: should I continue driving? Should I slow down? Should I pull over? But I don’t hear anything…. What should I do?

 

I pull over. And there are 5 cars in front of me, and everyone has climbed over the safety barrier and is now crouched on the ground. I follow. A woman yells back at me: did you hear the siren?
I reply: no, but I saw people pull over and cover themselves. She nods: me, too! So we both shrug and stay low for a few minutes.

 

There’s no siren. Nothing. Maybe there had been, maybe it was a warning and people were playing it safe. Maybe we missed it while we were driving unaware that anything was going on. Maybe we just got the tail end of it and that’s why we didn’t hear anything.

 

I got back into the car – she did too. We waved goodbye and pulled back into traffic.

 

All this is taking up space in my head for wanting to go out and get a haircut.
I’m home now, and I’m calm. I love my new haircut and I’m glad I braved my fears and went out.

 

They have already taken so much away from us, and I’ve decided that they weren’t going to have that. At least not today.