Present Day - The Pipsqueak's First Passover

Oy... Thank you,  Compost  Comcast for such a wonderful "now it's there, now it's not, now it's there but too slow to use" connection to the Internet.

I just wanted to wish everyone a slightly belated Happy Passover... On Monday night, with the Pipsqueak running in & out of the kitchen, dining room, family room, and foyer, I couldn't help but remember how it was just one year ago that we were still closing out the family seders with "Next year in Beijing..." (It was a joke the 1st year; by the 5th Passover last year, none of us were smiling when we said it!)  I also noticed that when we reached the line in the old Haggadahs that reads, "...and causes the barren woman to dwell in her house a joyful mother of children" that AJ seemed to hug the Pipsqueak just a bit harder and maybe even have a catch in her voice for just a moment... :-)

Never mind that my niece almost had a meltdown at one point, or that Mommy and Uncle and Grandma had to sometimes take turns occupying her in another room, or that anyone sitting within 5 feet of her during mealtimes needs to wear only machine-washable, non-delicate clothing... Seeing her there sampling Grandma's chicken soup while sitting in Mommy's lap (and spending a little time sitting on her Jiujiu's lap, making my dinner last much longer) or how her presence added to the usual level of chaos that marks almost every family seder for as long as I can remember... Wow.  Just wow.

Like my niece says during family hugs: "Happy happy!"

But now I'm going to try to get back to typing in the text of my long-delayed post about our evening cruise on the Pearl River in Guangzhou... see y'all later!