I could smell my wife’s cooking from outside the front door to our apartment.
She hadn’t spent more than an hour in the kitchen that afternoon; her other commitments to lesson planning, phone calls to her students’ families and parenting didn’t leave time for much more than that. But she made the most of that hour, churning out three different dishes in preparation for our Passover seder – the formal holiday feast – the next evening.
We left when she was finished for our daily constitutional that prevents cabin fever from winning the battle for control of our sanity. I came back a half hour later to retrieve sweatshirts for my family but paused before putting my key in the lock.
I stood outside our door and inhaled the aromas of spice, comfort and love creeping into the hallway. I closed my eyes for a moment, forcing myself to experience the feelings brought on by the sweetness infiltrating the air. The warmth traveled through me like a spring thaw; an appropriate analogy, given the time of year.
But it didn’t feel like Passover. Continue reading “Freedom and Rebirth in the Shadow of COVID-19”
