Until Next Year

Last Wednesday night marked the beginning of Passover, when we always host the first seder for our extended family. Al’s first cousins always host the second seder. This is a family tradition that dates back to Al’s mother and her youngest sister, who alternated hosting the two festive meals every year, when we join Jews around the world in retelling the Exodus story.

Even though we share the meals between the two families, it’s still a lot of work. My hands were in rough shape as the holiday approached, with six fingers in bandages, due to persistent ulcers and calcium bits that had chosen just this time of year to travel up to the surface and hang around without popping out. This feels like having grains of sand stuck under your skin. No fun.

Fortunately, our younger daughter had already planned to come up from Philadelphia to help out with the cooking for three days. Yes, it takes that long, because I can’t help myself. I always plan a very special meal with lots of courses. Even when I’ve mastered all the recipes and know how to pace myself with the meal prep, it’s just a lot of work.

So, we cooked and shopped and cooked together for several days. She did the lion’s share of the chopping and mixing and frying and baking, while I directed and handled a variety of smaller details that were essential for the final meal. Here’s what we made: Egyptian charoset, which is a mixture of dates, raisins, ground nuts and sugar; hard boiled eggs; pickled salmon (a family favorite, as an appetizer); Egyptian potato soup; spinach patties; roasted carrots, beets, and turnips; a salad of oranges, avocados, red onions, arugula, and a cinnamon vinaigrette dressing; apricot sponge cake, chocolate chip meringue cookies, strawberries, grapes, and chocolate for dessert. And, of course, there was plenty of matzah, including gluten free.

It was a hit. Worth all the effort. We had fun cooking together, though I was quite tired afterwards.

Learning how to ask for and accept help is a crucial part of living with scleroderma. I’m very grateful to our daughter for being so willing to step up and keep the family tradition going. Until next year . . .

Evelyn Herwitz blogs weekly about living fully with chronic disease, the inside of baseballs, turtles and frogs, J.S. Bach, the meaning of life and whatever else she happens to be thinking about at livingwithscleroderma.com. Please view Privacy Policy here.