When I was 15 years old we lived in the U.S. Our first week there we went out to the mall, and while we were there, suddenly a siren went off.  All of us- me, my little brother and my parents all thought the same thing- “who is bombing us and where the residential is secure space?” Of course it was not a siren alert for bombing but for a tornado. Back then I was an Israeli girl with thoughts of an Israeli girl. Now I am an Israeli mother with thought of an Israeli mother.

 During that year in high school, a “regular” girl about to celebrate her sweet sixteen, I noticed that my thoughts are different from the other girls in my class. Not only because of cultural, but because that the head of an Israeli girl contains different thoughts.

When the girls in my class tried to decide to which college they want to go, I was thinking what force I wanted to join.

When they were thinking who the hottest football player to date is, I was thinking who already enlisted and who looks hot in uniform.

When we returned to Israel, a year later, I felt that I came back to the “normal” world. A word where we talk and think about important things.  Not superficial things like proms, football games and college parties. True,We also thought and talked about those things but we were also pre occupied with – where will we be in the army? Will we have a soldier boyfriend? And also thinking and worrying for those who already enlisted.

As a teenager, riding the bus listening to my CD player, if a suspicious man got on the bus I used to search for a good song just in case he’s going to blow up the bus. I also knew to be alert if I see a bag with no one next to it because it can be a bomb, and I opened my bag for a regular security check wherever I went without giving it a second thought.

And none of these things seemed strange or irregular to me. Just regular thoughts of a teenager. An Israeli teenager.

16 years later and I am a mother. An Israeli mother. With thoughts of an Israeli mother.

Thoughts of an Israeli mother photo by: Elad Segoli

Will my little boy be a pilot? Or is it better that he will serve close by and come home every day?

If we are outside during a bombing siren- should I lie down on one of them? Both of them?

And what if my baby girl wants to be a combat soldier?

And that leads me to things that only us Israeli children are familiar with:

• Gas masks
• Where  the safe room in every house is, and if it doesn’t have one- where is the nearest shelter
• To run to a secures place in 60 seconds top
• How a helicopter and tank looks like. Inside and out.

Especially now, with the change in the security situation we live in, I am more aware of the fact that I have thoughts that are unique for Israeli mothers.

When they show on TV the soldiers and the reserved forces that were once again recruited- I listen to the news but the first thought that crosses my mind is that – this is some mother’s child. Right now there is a mother that is hardly sleeping .Just like several years from now I will hardly sleep.

And while the girls that I went to high school with sit with their children and help them choose the best college for them, I will help my children to decide which force to join and where to serve. When they will shed tears when their grown up boy leave the house for college, I will be busy ironing my sons uniform , thanking god he came back for the weekend, shedding my tears while ironing,

Regular (Israeli ) mother’s thoughts?