You will not believe what I answered when Liat asked me what was for dinner the other day

"Hamburgers, Be'ezrat Hashem".

Which sent Isaac and her into peels of laughter as we drove home from work.

I looked at them both, with one eyebrow raised. (Well, I can't do the one-eyebrow-raise, but if I could, that would have been the expression on my face).

"What exactly is so funny about hamburgers?"

They looked at each other through the rear-view mirror and again starting laughing.

"It's not the hamburgers, mommy, it's the be'ezrat Hashem".

Yeah, well. In recent years I've been pretty into the "Baruch Hashem [Thank G-d]" and "Be'ezrat Hashem [with G-d's Help]" thing. But I usually used those words in regard to health (I never take that for granted) and for future plans (as in Be'ezrat Hashem the kids'll go to camp this summer). I guess it struck Isaac and Liat funny that I used it in regard to a dinner that was a couple of hours away. They think I'm totally being influenced by the charedi environment where I work. And they're probably not wrong. I've realized over there that you can't answer the question "how are you?" without saying "fine, Baruch Hashem". G-d permeates every sentence they speak.

What my charedi co-workers don't realize, but my family does, is that I also have a tendency to use foul language. I've always tried not to use that language in front of the kids, but as they get older, it does slip out more. It's something I should work on, I know, but it can be so satisfying in certain situations (such as when you drop the pot of chicken soup all over the floor or when someone cuts you off on the road). Oddly, sometimes I find myself using both foul language and Baruch Hashem in almost the same sentence....

Sigh. You all probably think so much less of me now.

(BTW, my friend Gila has also written about her tendency to use those words (the Be'ezrat Hashem, not the foul language). I'd link up to the exact post, but like me, she doesn't index her posts).