Christmas (Camel) Memory

The Christmas card we received last year from my nephew Adam showed his family sitting on a camel... in Texas, I presume.

It reminded me that my mother, on a visit to Israel years ago, rode a camel up Mount Sinai in the pre-dawn dark... The tour guide's plan was to take them to the top of the mountain to see the sun rise.

The camel walked on the very edge of the path, my mother later told me. In the dark, I could hear rocks tumbling down the mountain side. It was so scary... Sitting up so high on the camel I had to remind myself again and again: The camel is the most sure-footed beast, the camel is the most sure-footed beast...

She made it to the top in time to see the sunrise. But, looking back, the camel ride was much more exciting than the sun rise on the top of that historic mountain.