one seder down, one more to go.  photos to follow, i promise.  i have so much to say about so many things but i’m so tired that it actually hurts to type.  i’m going to try to but here’s a warning – rambling ahead…

yesterday began at 5:30am with a mumbling NPR commentator on my alarm clock.  i jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen.  i had moved soup, matzah balls, chicken and brisket from the freezer to the refrigerator but just as i had expected, they had barely begun to thaw and so i threw all of the above (except the brisket, don’t worry) on to the kitchen counter top and hoped that by the time i arrived home from work we would have made some progress.

i arrived at camp with time to spare – check work email and voicemail (made a mental note to make sure little adam goes home with his dinosaur rain jacket) and headed into AM care.  within the hour the room was crawling with 35 chanihim (step 1. in take-over – incorporate more hebrew into camp community) and i scrambled to put groups together for our museum adventure.  next thing i knew we were boarding public buses (mothers who are reading this – you might want to sit down) and on our way.  i spent the next 3.5 hours frantically counting kids.  and counting.  and counting.  i have this anthem that i find myself repeating to myself when faced with a “camp director” situation, “what would JOSH do?”, my own WWJD?  but the only answer i could come up with was, JOSH would NEVER take campers on public transportation.  hmmmmm. i can tell you very little about the actual museum because there were so many people (its spring break week after-all) that we were packed in like sardines.  i can tell you that [REDACTED] came out of the museum and immediately screamed I LOVE THE ACADEMY (he’s a yell/shout talker) so i feel like the day was a success.  and the fact that we returned to our home base with exactly 35 campers was a passover miracle within itself.

post camp BEX and i booked it home.  we each enjoyed a “hot shower – cold beer” (a final before pesach) and began heating up food.  soon ABN was home to slice gefilte fish (in his own special way) and before i knew what hit me, i had 11 guests sitting around our holiday table.

and i hate to say it was perfect – after all – the carrots were totally undercooked – but it felt really wonderful – not the carrots, the carrots felt – hard.  our table was full and everyone was totally into the night – the tradition, the food, the drink, the conversation.  it was a completely random smattering – old friends who have become new friends and new friends who are beginning to feel like they could be life long.  the night made me feel good and full and like san francisco could be home.  and considering it looks like spring camp might be part of my life for a little while longer – i should get used to spending passover out here.

tonight we do it all again but because i work for the jews (sort of) i have today off – praise the lord.  i escaped my house early this morning and i’m just hoping that the cleaning lady arrived as scheduled and when i return (post desperately needed manicure and eyebrow wax) the crumbs will be slightly more under control.  i’m then off to the grocery store to replenish – who runs out parsley?