There never was a question that Rosh Hashana (last Thursday and Friday) would be gold this year. My fiancé Shira and I would be spending our first Jewish holiday together in Seattle, her almost hometown, where she would be visiting family.

Were we a few days younger, this would have been tantamount to meeting her parents for the first time.

As sharply as the cool, overcast Seattle weather differed from sun-splashed Los Angeles, 1200 miles away, who had time to notice?

We were instantly surrounded by celebratory circumstances.

Friends Shira had made during her 20 years in Seattle would be congratulating her on her approaching marriage.

Engaging an entirely new community of mostly Sephardic Jews (whose families often originated in Spain), the onset of the 48 hours of Rosh Hashana in a large (900-seat) Sephardic synagogue, and living for five spirited days in the home of the lively 10-children family of the (Ashkenazic) rabbi of the 107-year-old synagogue, Ron-Ami Meyers – all of this combined to make a mature heart stomp on the accelerator.

Shira and I easily were the most anxious 149-year-old couple in Seward Park that late afternoon.

With Shira at the wheel of her rented car, we spent the first couple hours touring the undulating topography of her old Seward Park neighborhood.

Who had any idea this many trees existed on the planet – far more greenery than at Ft. Knox.

From a distance we visited Lake Washington, which, like every other section of Seattle is bordered and enhanced by more greenery than exists anywhere east of the moon.

Every creatively designed, long established frame home, often on a rise in the ground, was protected by an uncountable forest of lush trees, busily changing their leaves to peach, gold, scarlet and variations.

Yards that did not sport a “Black Lives Matter” sign seemed out of step.