Immediately, Massachusetts was captivating. After six years of desert, the colorful leaves were mesmerizing, and my mother would always tell us to look out the window.

As children, we didn't need a lot more than the playgrounds of Lubbock. Needham is far more developed, and one can certainly feel its proximity to a city. My mother still asserts that Israel is more intense, though.

Massachusetts has a large Israeli population. My mother joined this community and found many of her friends through it. As she was reconnecting with her Israeli identity herself, she would try to get us to do the same. For this reason, she tried to get us involved in tzofim (Israeli scouts). She had been an Israeli scout as a child in Israel, and wanted us to experience the same thing.