Memories, like the corners of my matzo...

Log in / Sign Up

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following My Posts Bookmarks

Private Messages Rules New User Guide FAQ Advertise Contact Us

Forum -> Yom Tov / Holidays -> Pesach

1 2 3 4 Next

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

Clarissa ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 8:43 am

I didn't add this to the other thread about Pesach being over because I don't want my negativity and bitterness to taint everyone's enjoyment of having their kitchens back to normal and enjoying their chocolate chip cookies.

My childhood ones:

The time my mother, who was five months pregnant, had a miscarriage right in the middle of the seder.
The time my mother's best friend, a widow who was always at our seders, left her teenaged son at home because he was, as usual, having problems. He showed up at the seder, out of his mind on drugs, and tried to kick my parents' door down.

Adult memories:

My son vomited at our seder one year with such ferocity that we spent hours cleaning everything, including him and me, up after. We didn't get him into bed and start the seder until very, very late that night.
The time that a family seder tiff lasted for almost three years.

This year:

My husband and I had a fight one day after shul that was the biggest of our marriage. Bad fight. I'm quite sure the next-door neighbor heard it, because every time I see him he looks at me like he's wondering if I'm either an abused wife or a shrew, I can't tell. We're still angry.
Non-stop arguments with our older kid, probably because of tension related to our anger at each other. The house may be back to normal, but he's lost treats and screen time (tv and Nintendo) until he's 40.
I gained about twenty pounds on all of the junk food I ate to cheer myself up.
Loved one in the hospital having cancer surgery.

Not to trivialize Jewish enslavement, but there have been moments when I've wondered if I wouldn't be better off building a few pyramids instead...

Mimisinger

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 9:02 am

Oy Clarissa, I'm so sorry that you've had such difficult Pesachs. May next year be a great one! However, it is normal. ERs tend to see the most patients around holiday time because its so stressful for people.

smiley:)

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 9:03 am

It's also therapists' popular time.

happyone

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 9:34 am

Clarissa wrote:

Not to trivialize Jewish enslavement, but there have been moments when I've wondered if I wouldn't be better off building a few pyramids instead...

Clarissa - not to trivialize your hardships this yom tov, but this is the best line I've heard in a while.

Raisin ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 9:55 am

I hope you guys make it up, and manage to create some better memories other years, iy'h. And I hope your friend has a refuah shleima soon.

In the meantime- start dreaming up low fat shavuos recipes... Wink

All I can say is - I'm happy pesach is over. dh had/has flu, and my kids suffered cheerio withdrawel symptoms.

chocolate moose ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 10:03 am

DH in the hospital with a situation mimicing a heart attack, DD's arm surgery and DS's knee surgery.

I'm just afriad of what's gonnna be whe it's "my" turn ....

BeershevaBubby

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 10:05 am

There was the year my siblings, father and I got back from our Chol hamoed trip to the circus to find out his father had passed away (he'd been sick).

There was the year my father's mother passed away right after searching for Chametz (she'd also been sick).

There was the year my brother decided to flick his Bic in his pocket on Erev Pesach and he ended up in the burn ward at Columbia hospital with my parents at his side. He ended up being in the hospital for 3 weeks.

↑ Clarissa ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 10:06 am

Raisin wrote:

In the meantime- start dreaming up low fat shavuos recipes... Wink

All I can say is - I'm happy pesach is over. dh had/has flu, and my kids suffered cheerio withdrawel symptoms.

So funny that you would mention this. To cheer myself up over Pesach, I started thinking about what I might make for Shavuot. And my ideas were not low-fat.

Sorry about the flu. It's really hard to be sick when your eating options are limited.

As far as the Cheerios, as usual I bought the Pesach fake Cheerios, and as usual, nobody ate them. I need to remember this for next year. Every year I buy them and every year nobody eats them, because they're not Cheerios. They're round, pasty tasteless things in the shape of Cheerios. When will I learn?

Speaking of round, pasty things, I just caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. I wonder if any plastic surgeon-liposuction guys have post-Pesach sales?

HooRYou

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 10:49 am

A few years ago my father o"h was niftar on the first day of Pesach VERY suddenly. It was very stressful and overwhelming. My mother had someone call us but they called during the last bits of Y"T. DH was still in shul and I heard the message over the answering machine. I remember panicing and then just sitting on the couch saying tehillim since I wanted to try and keep calm for the rest of Y"T. When DH came home I made hi make havdalah immediately and then listen to the message. We had to figure out last minute plane tickets, gave away all the food that would spoil, went away for Shabbos, since it was a 3-day YT in CHU'L and then flew out MSh"K. Thankfully we were able to get a message to my mother who thought we had gone away and wouldn't get the message in time. It was unbearable until I got to my mother's house. Then we went to the funeral, finished Pesach and sat shiva. We stayed one more week to try and help my mom and then flew home. LEaving the US at this point was one of the hardest thigns I have ever done in my life.

When I went back to work the day after arriving home I found out that I had been fired for Yiush since the co-owner of the company I had spoken to neglected to tell the bosses I was staying an extra week, even thought they told me to take all the tiem I needed. It was a horrible job, but we needed the income. They also messed me up so I never got unemployment.

It took a couple fo years after that to feel normal about the beginning of Pesach.

ChossidMom ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 10:57 am

Oh Clarissa. Sorry to hear about you having a hard time.
Here's a hug {{{Clarissa}}}.

My grandpa, whose name was Pesach, passed away on the second day of Pesach in 1969. I really loved him.

greenfire ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 11:16 am

speaking of withdrawal we just had an argument over bread w/o the seeds Twisted Evil

... I guess we're in galus ...

still awaiting moshiach ...

tovasmom ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 11:30 am

I guess there are enough Tzarot to go around. My mother and mil were with me the whole pesach and since neither of them are still mobile, we took our kids on trips over chol hamoed and they both sat in my house on the verge of killing each other. Furthermore, my mother spent the last 3-4 days sniping at and taking every available pot shot at my mil which she could which was reaaaaaaly aggravating for me. My other company was for the most part sick with their toddler vomiting etc. and really not feeling well and I feel like a real heel for the first thought in my mind being the hope that my medically fragile dd who is 4 does not come down with something!!!

Also, my mother, who has been battling cancer for a while and has been clean for about two years found out before yom tov that they found a new spot which needs to be biopsy and she went berserko about it over chol hamoed, accusing me of not telling her what was going on (of course I did).

In some ways I was really happy to go back to work this morning, even though my house is a wreck and my kids have no clean clothes as I am stretched really thin right now.

But I understand where you are coming from Clarissa, with my stress and all the eating I gained at least 2 pounds over yom tov, which were two hard fought pounds which I have to lose again. and I have nothing nutritious to eat in my house. Sad

grin ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 12:00 pm

so sorry to hear, Clarissa. (Where did you pick that name from anyhow?) So like you to think of everyone else first and save this thread for now.

I hope you have nice memories too.

Ruchel ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 12:17 pm

I find Clarissa to be a normal name. Clarisse is rather common in France.

Tefila

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 12:19 pm

Quote:

so sorry to hear, Clarissa. (Where did you pick that name from anyhow?

I guess from the same place that you piced yours Grin Twisted Evil

↑ Clarissa ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 1:53 pm

These stories are so sad. I don't mean to make it sound like my Pesach has ever been as awful as some of these -- losing a loved one during a holiday is so terrible. I have a friend who lost her mother on Pesach after a long illness, and I can't help thinking of her every year. After some of these stories that have been shared, I feel like such a whiny person. I am a whiny person, so it's only appropriate.

A couple of quick responses:

My name is the first name of the main character in one of my favorite books. It's much nicer than my actual first name, which sounds like an aging, spinster Math teacher from the 1950's who rarely smiles. I smile a fair amount and have big teeth. I am technically from the 50's, but I'm bad at Math.

Tovasmom, what can I say. Yours sounds awful and takes the unleavened cake. I hope your mother's spot turns out to be nothing. When will you know? The woman I've mentioned who had her surgery had it postponed for a week because of a spot on her liver, that turned out to be nothing. I hope your mother's spot is like that. The women fighting thing sounds unbelievable. I guess you'll reconsider before hosting both again. As far as the sick kid, I would have reacted much more strongly. I would have banished the entire family to a room and taped the door shut, maybe giving them a little food to keep them going.

Chossidmom, HooRYou, YESHASettler, CM and anyone else with wretched Pesach stories, I offer you my empathy and sympathy.

One more thing for Tovasmom, all you gained was 2 lbs? I'm afraid to get on the scale, but judging how tight everything is, I'm thinking I passed two lbs. gained before the holiday officially started. I'm still eating the leftovers, so my diet today is as Pesach-y as the actual holiday.

Time to vacuum up the matzo crumbs. At least my floor will look good. Maybe I'll run the vacuum over my thighs and see if it makes a difference.

↑ grin ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 1:56 pm

Clarissa wrote:

Time to vacuum up the matzo crumbs. At least my floor will look good. Maybe I'll run the vacuum over my thighs and see if it makes a difference.

that's the most original diet plan I've ever heard.

↑ ChossidMom ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 2:03 pm

I actually thought your name was probably Frummie or Shprintza LOL.
Now I know it's Edna!!!

btMOMtoFFBs ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 2:09 pm

No, its Evelyn, or maybe Mildred?

↑ Clarissa ↓

Mon, Apr 28 2008, 2:13 pm

Not quiet as bad as the ones you guys have come up with (except Evelyn, which I like) but bad enough, in my opinion. I'd tell you but I can't out myself. After all, I have revealed so much about myself here, like my left-handedness, my somewhat *ahem* liberal political leanings (oops, just leaned over so far to the left I fell over) and the fact that I'm the only woman in the free world who loves okra more than any other vegetable.

Let's just say it's not pretty. The one person here who knows it can attest to that, next time she signs on.

Page 1 of 4

1 2 3 4 Next