Water Bottles

I did something nice for Pesach. This past winter, I started preparing for the holidays long before spring’s scent drifted through my windows: fixing, decluttering and organizing things around the house. Since Eli’s death, I’ve been minimizing my Pesach cleaning. Eli’s last Pesach with us was during COVID, when we were busy creating an impenetrable cocoon for our family, layering ourselves with resilience. The kids were homeschooled and we were dependent on each other for entertainment. Since COVID, I stopped insisting that the kids make their beds in the morning. Having them put their dirty clothes in the laundry drawer has become an accomplishment. It’s been five years since I went all out with the spring cleaning. This year-after three years of art school-has been a year of inventory: of self and home. While I think about what I want to do in the future, I am weeding out things we’ve outgrown needing, creating more space for the children at home. I’ve replaced broken fixtures, added a sink unit in the hallway downstairs and chased the ever evasive roofer. I’m trying to do one thing at a time, for one child at a time. I am even making supper more often. But all this doesn’t count. 

This morning, I did something nice for the family, something I wouldn’t have done in the past. Something my husband loved doing. I cleaned our extra mini fridge on the roof and filled it up with water bottles. Every Friday night as soon as my husband came home from shul he put the water bottles in the freezer to chill before the meal started. Then he’d wake me up for Kiddush. Shabbat morning, again, before Eli left to shul with the boys, he would refill the water bottles and put them back in the freezer. 

Don't we all love a cold glass of water with our meal? And don’t we all need someone standing beside us who understands it’s little things that matter.