Some Passover Musings

Passover. Passover. Passover. I cannot think of any other holiday that evokes as many thoughts and memories as this one does. So many thoughts, so many memories.

This year is certainly going into the books for many reasons. I should add that overall it has been a very positive experience, albeit a trying one.

Virtually all of the women I grew up with (mother, sisters and one grandmother) have April birthdays and now we can add two nephews to the mix and a BIL. For those of you keeping score that means that I now have 176 April birthdays to be concerned about.

On the off chance that any of the April birthday nephews read this allow me to say that I feel your pain. If you are like your mothers you will love Pesach and hate the fact that your birthday parties must be adjusted for Pesadik food and or moved for a seder here and there. I can also promise that either myself or the big grandpa will make the same stupid puns for the rest of your life so you might as well get used to it.

As an FYI we are blessed to have three grandparents/great-grandparents who are all 92 and we hope will continue to go strong. If we can use them as an indication of anything I should be able to recite these jokes/stories and tales for at least another 93 years or so, unless I die early which in this family happens around 87. Either way, I am here for a long time to come.

More notes. Eldest nephew is excited because I let him beat me on the PS2 hockey game last night. I don't like losing and that includes losing to my own children, let alone nieces and nephews who I love dearly. If he doesn't stop gloating his immature uncle may have to spank him in the game tonight to set things right.

I must admit, it was great to see how excited he got. It really made me smile. I should also add that my son was less than pleased about this as he doesn't like seeing that dad is not superman full time. And just in case we read this many years from now let me add that eldest nephew's little sister was pissed off that he had been teasing her and hence rooted against him in this game.

The Maxwell house haggadah is pretty rough. I like it because it has been used a thousand times and I can see my Zaide's notes in it. OTOH, the language is rough and not very inviting. I think that I need to do a separate post about this and my thoughts on how to improve the seder. I'll save that for later.