This Wednesday night, we’ll host our first Passover Seder since moving to Pennsylvania. That’s right, we haven’t hosted a Seder since 2008 when we lived in Rhode Island! Our Passover ritual items (e.g., matzah plate, Seder plate, afikomen bag) have been packed up for over a decade.
All of our Passover items were clearly marked and stored in a central location in our Harrisburg basement. But then we moved in June and nearly everything went into storage until our new house was finished in mid-October. I broke my ankle two weeks before we moved from our temporary townhouse into our new home. Therefore, we still haven’t unpacked the boxes in unfinished part of our basement.
This past weekend, I tasked Marc and Isabelle with searching for the Seder and matzah plates in the basement, but they came up empty-handed after searching. Emily, my dear friend who attended our Seder in 2008, heard my tale and offered to overnight us a spare Seder plate from her house in New England after Marc only found the matzah plate. I considered, but couldn’t bear the thought of her going to FedEx and contracting COVID-19 because of a missing Seder plate. I told her Marc would keep looking and — at worst — Isabelle would design one as an art project tomorrow.
About ten minutes ago, I received an unexpected text from Marc, who I heard dictating into his phone from the basement.
The moral of the story is you shouldn’t pay movers to pack for you if you want your belongings to be grouped together in a way that makes sense. (I could go on and on about this since the Seder plate is one of many things improperly boxed and/or packed. But I’ll save the rest of those tales for another time.) Having movers pack for you can save your back, but it doesn’t save your sanity or make you immune from aggravation.
Raising Literate Humans 
I’m really glad he found the plate – and I love that he texted you from the basement. And, though you didn’t take her up on it, isn’t it nice to know you have a friend who would have FedExed something important? So many little things to be grateful for in this post (well, not the movers, but other things) – I hope that you are up and about a little more, too. May your Seder go well; may Isabelle recite well!
Looking forward to tonight. It is going to be a very different experience than what we are used to.
Btw: Everyone is talking about the lack of freedom we are experiencing now and relating it to the Jews’ escape from Egypt. Every time I see something like that I think of your comment from last month. 🤗
Oh, A seder in your new home, ziessen Pesach! So perfect, Stacey! Your husband is quite wonderful! He did not give up. I wish we could hear Isabelle She will be amazing! I just remembered that I will have to go to the store by tomorrow morning for matzah!
I look forward to celebrating Passover with you and Ralph again. In my mind, I figured I could invite you if my recovery was going well. But then the virus hit and I realized no one would be going anywhere this year. 😢
Sometimes saving time on one end means extra time on the other end. But thank goodness Mark found the plates. Best wishes for Seder in your new home.
Thank you. I am hoping it goes well.
A true lesson. Having moved many times I can vouch for it, but somehow the payoff in not being the one doing all the packing outweighs even that stress for me (but don’t talk to me about my missing carrot cake recipe).
Movers lost a recipe?!? Oh, that is not cool.
Glad all was found. I must say even when packing yourself I have found my labels did not make as much sense when i returned to them later. Glad everything was there even if missed labeled.
I’m an over-labeler. You should see the boxes I still have packed from our RI move. I’ve never opened them since I know what’s inside. 😂
Glad you found your plate. And, it wasn’t broken! I packed everything VERY carefully for our move from California to Texas. I wish I could say our movers were careful with the boxes, but they were not. You cannot believe the sadness that overwhelmed as I unpacked box after box of broken china, crystal, and other breakable things.
Broken crystal and china would’ve put me over the edge!
I am so glad you found your Seder plate – I love the back-up plan of Isabelle designing one! It is something I would’ve loved to see. I can imagine this Passover being especially meaningful. I hope you find all your items wherever they are randomly and unfortunately packed. Moving … boxes … one year as we were moving my husband mistook a box of home videos for trash; he took it to the dump! I happened to notice it missing, whereupon he drove me to the dump. I stood on top of the car and went dumpster-diving. Found the box (after tossing some chicken bones, etc.) I mean, there were newborn baby videos in there – irreplaceable!
Wow, Fran! You’re amazing for rescuing those precious, irreplaceable videos.
It will be comforting to have your meaningful Seder plate. I find particular joy in pieces that have family history…we need that now more than ever.
I’ll be honest, when I saw the matzah plate (which he found first; matches the Seder plate) I was like “that must have been a gift” since it wasn’t my style. Funny how tastes change over the course of 12 years. Alas, it is going to be my style since these aren’t the kinds of things you replace on a whim.