The Seder

Last night, I went to a seder at Jon's Aunt's house. It is the first time I've been to a seder outside of my own family and it was really interesting.

For me, the most interesting part of family gatherings is observing how they interact and comparing those interactions with those of my own family. It's nice to see similarities in how other big families behave with each other.

Probably the most enjoyable part for me was the presence of young children, the children of Jon's delightful cousins. There was a rambunctious eight year old boy, a bright and sensitive six year old and the most beautiful four year old girl I've ever seen.

I was just telling Jon that that little girl would be perfect for that poster encouraging couples to propagate and advance the species. Not only did she delight us with special songs she learned for the seder, but she enraptured us with stories from her life and by singing most of the sound track to the movie Annie (with some help from her very sweet Aunt).

Jon's family made me feel very welcome. There was no fuss, no special attention paid to me (which was perfect). I just seemed to blend in as if they'd known me for a long time. The seder was deep in New Jersey. Also enjoyable was the drive down. Jon and I had so much fun on the road, we were almost sorry when we reached our destination. The hardest part was perhaps waking up this morning because we arrived back in New York City so late. Getting up this morning was tough. I'm operating on four hours of sleep and about 5 cups of coffee.