Passover and Liberation

Passover has a special meaning for me this year. The name “Passover” is a reference to when the angel of death “passed over” the Jewish homes when God spared the Hebrew first born from the tenth plague. This all dates back to the story of Moses and his strength in standing up to the Pharaoh to demand that the Jews be released from slavery. This year I felt compelled to celebrate Passover not only to celebrate the fact that the angel of death is passing over my home, but also because Passover is about liberation.

I felt especially fortunate because my sister and her lovely family schlepped all of the way from Santa Monica to celebrate Passover with us. This is the first time that I’ve celebrated Passover with my sister since we were in high school (so many many years ago). Although I was exhausted from Round 6 of chemo (which was last Friday), and adding 2 young boys to the mix did not make anything more relaxing, it just felt so right to be surrounded by family during this particularly poignant Passover. In addition, we were also blessed to have been invited to our dear friends’ home for a second night of Passover so that we could celebrate twice the “passing over” of the angel of death with them and their amazing family.

As for liberation - I’ve been working on examining my life and not letting the little things get to me. This is something that I’ve been working on for years – but since I was diagnosed with cancer, it’s amazing how much faster I’m learning to just let things go. The petty stuff that seemed so important now seems so trivial. I hope that I will be able to maintain this sense of self-awareness once I beat the cancer. This is my goal for my personal liberation.