Out Damn Spot...

I had visions of Lady Macbeth today as I went to it in the kitchen, doing a pre-Pesach clean. It seemed like just as I removed one spot of I'm-not-sure-what-it-is-but-it-must-be-Hametz after another appeared in my line of vision.

I'm not advocating a complete surrender to ones obsessive compulsive disorder while taking any sort of ritually based preparation, but I can see how easy it is to do so. Each stain, mark or splodge of something I removed filled me with a strange tinge of excitement. I am sure that merely by admitting this I should be heavily medicated.

But it is almost done. I have cleaning out the food cabinets, scrubbed them, rinsed them, and placed the passover approved food items back. At this point that includes; 2 boxes of Trader Joes matzah, 2 boxes of Mrs. You-know-Whos-awitz's matzah ball soup mix, some jello, a can of tuna fish, and other sundry items. I'll go shopping tomorrow and stock up on "real" food, even tho it is a Chag.

I boxed up the unopened hametz food items, told them that I no longer owned them, and then put the box up on top of the fridge, where I tell myself "I can't see it, so it doesn't exist" for me. I threw out all the semi-used jars of this-that-and-the-other, divested us from the huge array of plastic cutlery we seem to have acquired, and then cast my eye on the silverware draw.

I washed them, all of them. Then I emptied the drawer they sit in, emptied the accumulated schmutz into the sink, then scrubbed out the drawer and the plastic tray. After everything was dry, I dutifully put them all back, neatly, and hametz free, into the drawer.

I like Pesach very much. It makes me feel connected to something pivotal and essential. Releasing myself from that which either puffs me up, or drags me down, I hope.

Seder tonite, and tomorrow. Looking very much to them both.