Darwin, Rules, Shtick, and Planning....

Ahava Leibtag is the person responsible for ending the illusion of "planned spontanaeity" as it relates to our Sabbath Invite Strategy. See here for background.

Due to an error on my part (in my defense I was dealing with Nana's shiva), I mistakenly assumed that we were going to her home for lunch on Feb. 3rd (the actual date was Feb. 10th).

In spite of my error, she graciously offered and then convinced us to come this week instead. As such, she has done something that no one else has--gotten us to change our schedule.

I said..."you know it seems like there is one set of rules for everyone else and one set of rules for Ahava."

She asked, "can I submit a guest post on this to your blog?" It follows.

Ahava writes (with brief notation from me):

For those of you who don't know me, I'm going to start off this post very honestly- I think the Epsteins are crazy.

For those of you who do know me, you'll recognize that it might actually be a compliment.

When I first met them, they seemed like nice enough people- Tamar especially.

I liked the thought they had put into Calanit's nameand I also liked that they seemed down to earth and fun. Then, when I heard about their lists and their A list and B list and their months ahead planning- I thought- too much shtick. Then we got an invitation.

So we went. I bought them a Rubbermaid container with a black and orange top. (it was right around Halloween.) This fit into their rules. (Jeremy, I assume you will link "rules" to your rules) [je: that would be here].

We had a good time debating if another couple there that shabbat lunch should have another baby. So far...they haven't...so maybe we put them off of it for good.

Anyway this post is long enough- my point is that we weren't going to invite them back because quite frankly we were intimidated by their lists and long-term planning. But Tzophia and Calanit are friends, and as I said before, I really like Tamar [je: not the first person to say this], so we invited them 3 months ago for February 10.

Jeremy- I think I'm going to hand the mike over to you at this point for your side of the story. I just want to quote Darwin here: "It's not the strongest of the species, or the most intelligent that survives, but rather those of the species who are most adaptable to change." 'Nuff said.

Only a few rebuttal points here.

1. Everyone has an "A" list and a "B" list of friends. I just admit it.
2. Ahava's gift is one of the best. You'll see it's in the "Greatest Hits" section of the rules document.
3. I don't know if it's coincidental that Ahava said she "really likes Tamar" and she is good friends with the person who was previously quoted saying that same thing. :-)
4. I'm not sure the Darwin quote is relevant here. Perhaps when the Sabbath starts falling on random days instead of predictable Saturdays, we won't make plans that far in advance. Besides, in each "wave," we make iterations to the strategy. (Note: Wave 4 planning is under way.)
5. This post has taken me longer to construct than any other post.