I am not sure what you are doing this weekend but it is likely that you are with family or friends celebrating Easter, Passover, or April Fools day .

What do you think about memory? It is a strange thing. Moments in our lives recorded on our nervous systems with electrical impulses. Some are etched so deeply we recall all the details what we were doing, saying, smelling, seeing. Sometimes these moments are snapshots in the collective conscience of a generation like the day Kennedy was shot, the Challenger explosion, Trump election or other collective shared event that allows you to permanently record all of your actions of a moment or day.

I am not sure what you are doing this weekend but it is likely that you are with family or friends celebrating Easter or Passover. Quite possibly building memories to be stored in your memory to be recalled each year by a Easter bonnet, the smell of Brisket or gifilte fish cooking. The memories of your and those around you. I would like to hear what are your memories of this weekend or your Easter/Passover memories from years past.

I am 50 years old this year. Here are what I think of when I try to access Passover memories:

Hallway that smelled like mothballs, a Black cabinet filled with a huge bag of pistachios red of course, my grandfather’s smile allowing me access to the bag filled with the colorful salty nuts. Sitting in his lap trying to learn the 4 questions…a carp in my bathtub my grandmothers smile (she knew that fish was no my new pet, but that gifilte fish was great)…pieces of a glass wine cup in my mouth smooth and sharp…my heart pounding in front of 50 people reading the 4 questions, my fathers smile at the successful completion…My “uncle” slapping me on the back with a mouth full of horseradish whose ether brings tears to my eyes exclaiming “That will put hair on your chest my boy”…. smell of brisket cooking…my mother’s exasperated expression when my father told her she could not use noodles for Passover “what am I going to do with all of this noodle Kugel? Knowing full well it was not for Passover but needing to conceal my father’s upcoming surprise party…My heart pounding in front of 30 people as I lead my first sedar…. My sense that my face was not big enough for my smile as each of my children read the 4 questions for the first time…the empty feeling when my children do not return from their young lives for Passover…

What are your memories?