Happy Passover

Feel free to insert your own caption.) 

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There are many Seders being held on Zoom tonight. None of us (I hope) are sharing physical space with extended family groups, those people we see once or twice a year, who make us nutty and whose absence we mourn around our Seder tables. 

And yet, there are stories.  There are the stories in the Haggaddahh (spelled that way because no other transliteration looked any better) and there are the stories about what happened the night that Auntie's green jello mold actually did end up on the kitchen floor.  More often than not, those are the stories we remember long after we've forgotten the answers to the 4 Questions.

Sometimes, those stories are about recurring behaviors, revolving more around personality than the actual facts of the particular matter.  Again?!?!  Cue the rueful laughter.  

Here is our story.

One year, Brother's family hosted the rest of us in Maryland.  There was a very cool toy store in his town square, and our hotel was located right across the plaza.  There were cousins to play with and grandparents to spoil us and it was, all in all, a very lovely time. 

As always, Daddooooo was not where he was supposed to be, when he was supposed to be, which was at one end of the looong table, yarmulke on his head, glass of wine in his hand, participating in the Seder.  Who knows where he was.  Who knows what he was doing.  Taking a photograph?  Deciding to do a minor home repair?  Just being ornery?

Remember, it doesn't matter.  What mattered is that It's happening AGAIN!!! 

Little Cuter, wearing a blouse her mother wore to a Seder when she, too, was 6 or 7 years old, a blouse brought from Israel for that purpose by her great grandmother and grandfather, the parents of the human at the other end of her face, her own grandfather, whose name, is coming out of her mouth the way it has come out of the mouths of generations of women before her.

DADDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note that her mother is smiling, her brother is quietly observing while trying to hide his grin, and her grandmother is Shhhhing her, hoping to preserve the peace.  

Just a typical family dinner. 

*****

This picture has been known and loved by everyone involved.  We all laugh at all the parts.  Even Daddooooo.  It's one of our favorite stories.... not the exact details, but the feelings... all the feelings.

What's your story? Is there one that makes you smile and grimace and ache and love all at the same time?  Even if you're alone for the holiday, be it Easter or Passover, or just the anniversary of your personal Shelter in Place Lockdown Quarantine, you can, perhaps, feel the feelings and tell the story, even to yourself.  

Being apart when you're used to being together is hard.  I spent some time with that picture today,  and felt a lot closer to those I'm not with.

It's not the same, but it helped.