when my brothers were 13 and 10 years old, i was born. that being said, i was raised not only by my parents, but my two older brothers as well. growing up, i was faced with many situations other kids my age wouldn’t face for at least another 5+ years. i was exposed to things a decade in advanced. today my life is enriched with experience and other information that helps me survive in the real world, all thanks to my parents going through some tough financial problems as well as their deep wishes of having a daughter. this is why my name is ben. ben in hebrew means son, so when my parents had yet another one, it seemed like the most appropriate name to give me.
i was born in the same house i lived in until i was 8 years old, in long island, new york on 109 hampshire road. when i moved from that amazing home of mine, i was devastated. it wasn’t only because of the fact that we had to move due to the lack of people to fill the 5 bedroom house with a nice amount of property. no it was everything else that happened around the same time. that same year my best friend went through some unbelievable things i am still not comfortable talking about to this day. things that led to his disappearance from school for a month, living with my family for two weeks, and his moving around from canada to connecticut to new york and eventually to hong kong. i haven’t seen him since. also in that same year, my grandmother passed away just before my bar mitzvah. i had to have a small ceremony by her hospital bed in israel two months prior. i know this may all sound sad and many have told me that these things would have scared them in unimaginable ways; but these are the scars that make me who i am today. i wish none of the things that happened to my friend ever occured. but if they hadn’t, we both wouldn’t have become the people we are now or the people we are going to be.
today i am writing this monolog with trembling hands as i am truly opening up my heart and spilling the beans, so to speak about my life and my history leading up to the present. many things in my life are not perfect. but i work damn hard for them to come as close as possible. to tell you a little bit about my life now, id like to start off about my family, because they are the ones who have direct influence on me and my life. my 28 year old brother, Adi, and my 57 year old father, Yosef or Yosi, run a construction company called KBR (Kitchen &Bathroom Remodeling). my 54 year old mother, Carmela, likes to help out in thier office / showroom just a few blocks form Baruch on 28th and 5th ave. my eldest brother, Roee, who will be 31 later this month, owns a night club called pink elephant (on the corner of 8th street and Macdougal street)and is working his ass off to open another nightclub right accross the street from lavo, next door to tao on 58th street as well as a sushi strip club on the upper west side. he recently put me in charge of opening a “hole in the wall” sandwich shop i will be calling baguette bar. i dont know much about the food industry but ill tell you one thing for sure, i wont be using GMO’s. seriously bobbie polard would probably kill me by strapping me down and forcing me to drink her green shakes… gotta love business research.
when i first came into Baruch i was nervous to see what my life would become and how my daily schedule would change. when it did change, i found myself losing the morals i grew up on and held onto so dearly. it took a really close friend of mine whom i grew up with all my life to tell me i was fucked if i didn’t get back to my old ways of seeing life. my old way of seeing life was the best. i saw the little things in life as the best things in life. like when you flip over the pillow to the cold side. or when you and a friend say the same thing at the same time and get super excited, or when your footsteps match up when you walk net to someone and many more. i still don’t feel as though i am fully back on track but i will do my best to see my way through to end up where i belong. hopefully sooner than later.
hopefully the stress of school work and the work i put into starting my own sandwich shop wont become too overwhelming again and throw me back into a downward spiral. so heres to staying on top of our game, on top of our work and on top of the world. cheers.