This week is Passover and Easter. Passover ... what a great holiday! It is about food, history, a smattering of religion, family and friends. What can get better! Since we have been involved in Edgemont we have gone to at least one seder a year. This year it was two! You get invited, hang out around a dinner table, eat the proscribed foods, drink wine and talk about life and family and values. Everyone is included, and the youngest at the table is even celebrated. The Jewish culture has it right!
The problem comes with all the memories. I remember sitting around the same table, being so proud of my children because of how well they were read; how well they understood the bible stories (ccd and Fordham, and basic love of story telling) and how much they like listening to other people around a dinner talbe. I really have great boys.
When Joseph was 17 Passover came just when he had to invite a girl to the prom. His Fordham Prep friends insisted that he have a date and they had someone in mind; Joe had someone from his swim team in mind. But it took him alot of nerve to build up the nerve to ask the girl. Finally, he had to buy the ticket, and it was Passover dinner. We went to our friends seder; and they knew that this was Joe's last night to call the girl before his friends stepped in and found him a date. We showed up for the seder, he insisted that he would call that evening before nine. Everyone sat around the dinner table looking at Joe, waiting for him to make the phone call. Then he excused himself to go upstairs where he could privately make the phone call. Then we all waited at the table .... and we waited and waited. Finally after about 45 minutes of a very slow seder the hostess went to find Joseph. He was up in the master bedroom hanging out on the bed watching t.v. He had called the girl 45 minutes beforehand, asked her to the prom, she said yes.... and there was a good movie on t.v. that he wanted to watch. What a teenager!
