SOL 5

Passover is coming up which is my favorite Jewish holiday. The past couple of years our family would get together with a couple others and celebrate it that way, but when I was younger we would go to my grandparent's house. My Grandpa passed away last summer and they sold the house, so we wont be able to have the same celebration or have it with family. But I do remember the times we did get to go over there, and they were really fun. I remember that one long table was stretched across the deck in the humid backyard which at night was packed with people.

 I didn't know most of them besides my family, but I was only around five years-old. It seemed like hours until we got to eat, which it probably was considering the list of things we had to do before. Such as the Seder which means "order" so we had to wash our hands, discuss the items on the plate, and re-tell the story of Passover. The food was delicious, especially with my grandma's classic and my favorite brisket. Everyone quietly eats and talks while Maddy sneaks under the table stealing everyone's napkins. She is a Black Lab and she is old now, but she was young then. Someone would go to wipe their mouth, and their napkin wouldn't be there.

My family was talking about stuff I didn't understand at the time, so I just sat there quietly eating my dinner, but I would look at the rest of the backyard. Four sculptures stood in the middle of the backyard and some of them were taller than me. I liked stacking some of the rocks on top of them and pretend it was part of the sculpture. To the right of that in the trees and bushes was an old canon. I didn't know if it was real or not but when I was younger I like to imagine the battles it was in and actual cannonballs firing out.

After dinner, my grandpa would pull out the clues to find the Afikomen. The Afikomen was a piece of Matza (thin un-levend bread) that was set aside and hidden for kids to find. It could be anywhere on the property. My grandpa was a poet, so each year the clues to the Afikomen would rhyme and be riddle-like. I don't remember the words, but we were split up into teams of two and set out. I was paired with Benjamin who is one of my older cousins, and we made a plan to split up to look for it. He went by the bottom deck that was by the basement door, and I headed over to the sculptures. My hand stroked the bright and glossy ceramic, not finding a trace of Matza. I quickly walked over to Benjamin, but before I could my eyes caught a quick glimpse of blue fabric in the canon. I grabbed the neatly folded fabric to open to a flat cracker. My heart skipped a beat as I ran up to Benjamin and screamed "I found it! I found it!" We each received one dollar and two gold pieces of gelt.  I couldn't wait until next year, and I didn't know I should treasure it while I had it.