When Pesach Looms

COMPLEX KIDS These kids are not bad lazy or rude. They’re trying to figure life out and for various and complex reasons are having a hard time. They are some of the nicest and most selfless kids around. They do not do well with expectations and pressure (does anyone?). This has nothing to do with middos and parenting and everything to do with pain and struggle

C ostco has had matzah in stock for six weeks now and since then it’s The Pit. The one in my stomach because Pesach looms.

It’s not the cleaning and it’s not the cooking. It’s not about recipes Ez-Off cleaning ladies matzah prices. It’s not vacuuming the car when it’s still cold out or getting the kids to stop dropping Cheerios all over the place. It’s not shopping or outfitting the kids. It’s not any of that. Those things — I can handle those things. They’re easy. They’re Normal People Problems.

My pit is formed by all the yeshivah guys coming home. The ads for communal chometz burning that we won’t be going to. All the Lakewood license plates that fill the parking lots and streets. The bochurim on line in all the stores awkwardly picking out produce. The black hats everywhere. The presumption that everyone is on bein hazemanim time. The minyanim that other people’s kids apparently go to. The pizza shops full of Normal People doing Normal Things.